The Court Magician
by SnowKiter
Summary: In which another random person from Meta Knight's past crashes upon Popstar, bringing new adventure and lots of cake.
1. Prologue

**The Court Magician**

_Rated T for descriptions of blood, angst, and occasional mild language._

_I do not own Kirby, Meta Knight, or any other characters having to do with Kirby._

So yeah. I was bored. So why not write a story?

I might have gone overboard with paragraphs upon paragraphs of obnoxious descriptions, Charles Dickens-style...sorry about that. XD

Oh well.

* * *

_Prologue_

Perhaps it was all coincidence. Or Fate. Or Destiny, pure misfortune or pure luck. Either way, Popstar received a lot of visitors in ships that often crash-landed. It wasn't a large planet by any means nor did it even look unusually pretty from space. Yet the small planet, current home of two Star Warriors, seemed to constantly be a target of stragglers.

That night was no different. It was just after late midnight, the inky sky silent and brooding. The moon was hidden by a few sullen clouds and only the brightest stars managed to twinkle through the thin but stubborn mist. The small town was just as silent and still. Street lights flickered sleepily along neatly paved streets. All inhabitants of the village, including its tyrannous king, were sound asleep. Except for one.

A small figure stood on the highest rampart of a castle tower, overlooking the entire town and the wilderness beyond it. A light summer wind ruffled an indigo cape gently. A pair of luminous golden eyes—wide with wisdom and vigilance—glowed behind the silver mask, brighter and more intense than all the weak light thrown by distant streetlights and the clouded heavens. Meta Knight turned, armor clanking softly, as a _whoosh_ sound grew in the distant sky, so soft and fleeting it might have been imagined. Nevertheless, the knight straightened his already perfect posture further, watching the inky expanse with increased diligence.

The first thing he noticed was the abrupt dimming of the street lights. Their steady glow sputtered unevenly as if a great force had disrupted the flow of electricity. Meta Knight frowned slightly as he watched the lamps fight valiantly to stay lit but ultimately lose. Alarming blackness settled onto Cappytown, leaving Meta Knight's eyes the only things glowing on with calm, eternal steadiness. But that lasted only a moment. Immediately after, the entire eastern sky was lit with blazing light.

Midnight cowered and fled away from the fierce roaring glow, the deep navy blue giving way to brilliant cerulean as if the sun had decided to fall to earth. Brighter than any meteor, the object sailing in the sky outshone the feeble stars and the half-sickle of the envious moon. The sluggish mists over the town were blown away as the object disappeared over the horizon. After another moment, the _whoosh_ ended in a dull roar, like something crashing in the far distance. With that, the spectacle ended, the sky returning to the darkness and the streetlights returning to faithful steadiness. The only hint of change was the absence of the fog and clouds. The thin sliver of moon shone silver in the sky and a multitude of stars had been revealed, twinkling gently in their respective places.

Meta Knight watched the sky for several more seconds, before turning his gaze in the direction of the mysterious object's crashing. He stepped forward, the wind blowing his cape in a more ominous manner. The object had been a ship. There was no doubt about it. The only question was whether the visitor was hostile or friendly.

There was no one awake to see, so Meta Knight turned his cloak into a pair of broad streamlined wings. They stretched along his back luxuriously, enjoying the rare freedom. Without hesitation, the knight leapt from the tower, wings spread like a looming owl. He caught a warm friendly wind which bore him upwards, and eastwards.

It did not take the experienced warrior long to find the smoldering crater in the middle of the forest. Meta Knight alighted to the ground, leathery wings folding back into cloth as his metal shoes touched down on half-melted rock. He stepped forward slowly, armor clanking slightly, keeping one gloved hand on Galaxia's hilt.

The ship glimmered defiantly within the deep crater it had created. It was too dark to identify its color, but it was sleek and well-built, small turrets and lasers docking the sides of it. The stealth cruiser, as Meta Knight had classified it as, was much, much larger than the golden Warp Star, the cradle Kirby had crashed down in. It was about the size of a small house. It was not gigantic, by ship standards and Meta Knight's Halberd would be surely dwarfed it, but the vessel was big enough to easily accommodate over a dozen passengers. Worried about the possibility of many invaders, Meta Knight loosened his sword from its sheath by two inches.

He slid down the inclines which lead to the fallen ship, landing on the metal roof lightly. He glanced at the wings of the vessel, but found only badly scratched-up burnt patches. The impact had destroyed any symbols of identification usually printed there. Meta Knight walked along the spine of the ship and was shocked to see hatch to the cockpit on the roof, open. A peek inside revealed the pilot seat unoccupied and silent before broken and fizzling controls. Meta Knight thoroughly checked the interior passageways and chambers but as he suspected, the ship was empty and abandoned.

Whatever had landed had escaped.

* * *

So yeah. Bad? Good? Really bad? I think I overused the word "light" and "glow" too many times. Meh.

I am putting up the first full chapter soon, if you're interested. Have a nice day and stuff~


	2. Chapter 1

I do not own any of the characters of Kirby.

So here we are. The first chapter. I think this one's a little obnoxious too. It just has that...tone. I might have rushed a little on this too...but nonetheless...

* * *

_Chapter 1_

"Did you hear?" Bun asked his sister. His green-streaked hair bobbed eagerly; he was practically leaping up and down with excitement. Bun did not wait for a reply, and opened his mouth immediately, to tell about what he heard.

"Of course I've heard," Fumu cut in indignantly, as if offended he would even presume that _she _would ever be behind on information.

"Poyo?" Kirby asked blankly, obviously having _not_ heard of whatever they were talking about.

Anxious to tell the story to someone, Bun launched into the epic tale of possible invaders from outer space.

"Stop jumping to conclusions," Fumu scolded, glancing at Kirby's terrified face. "Meta Knight-kyou only found one ship—,"

"Big enough to hold hundreds of people!" Bun interjected, waving his arms dramatically.

"It was _dozens_ of people. Don't blow things out of proportion," Fumu crossed her arms. "Besides, we don't even know if that many were even on board."

"But when he got there, the ship was empty wasn't it?" Bun argued earnestly. "Anyone on it had run away rather than wait for help. That's got to be suspicious."

"No it just implies that there _weren't_ a dozen people," She returned. "Otherwise how could they have all gotten off so fast, that Meta Knight-kyou didn't see anyone?"

"Maybe he didn't get there that fast!"

"And how would you know how fast he is?"

"How would _you_ know how fast he is?"

"Poyo…" Poor Kirby had become lost quite a while ago and could only stare as the siblings argued. The pink ball turned to the right, diverted from the conversation by an azure butterfly which fluttered lazily past him. Giggling, the young Star Warrior reached up with his stubby arms, jumping at (and utterly missing) the colorful insect. He chased the butterfly for a few feet, until he almost tripped over a puddle from recent rain. With that, Kirby's short attention span hopped to the clear and reflective water. It showed the image of another round pink ball with reddish blushes and wide blue eyes. The reflection of a bird briefly fluttered into the picture, causing Kirby to look up to see the reflection's owner fly over the castle. After a moment, the young Star Warrior turned his gaze back onto the fascinating puddle, smiling at the people and the castle within. Kirby poked the water surface and laughed as he watched his reflection and the mirrored world distort.

"Anyways," Fumu said, looking irritated after several minutes of debating with her brother, "We shouldn't interfere. Or go _anywhere_ near the forest for that matter. I know what you're thinking—," She glared sternly at both Kirby and Bun. "I know you're planning to sneak out and explore that ship yourself, but it's dangerous! So you're not to run off. I'm going to keep an eye on both of you. Understand, Bun? Kirby?"

Bun nodded solemnly, without any sincerity at all. Kirby's carefree laughter rang out, as he continued to be fascinated by his reflection. The girl whipped around, her short braid whipping with her, converging on the Star Warrior like an stern mother. She opened her mouth, a chastening word forming on her lips.

Just then, a voice echoed through the courtyard, calling Fumu's name.

"Could you help me with something, sweetie?" It was her mother.

"Okay," The girl called back. She started forward and then realized she was leaving Kirby and Bun unsupervised, despite her previous statement of "keeping an eye on them". She hesitated, torn.

"Fumu?"

"I'm coming!"Fumu began turning away. "I have to go and help mom with something, so you guys go play or something. _Don't_ you dare go near the forest!"

With that last warning, she turned and briskly entered the stone arc of a castle entrance.

As soon as she was gone, Bun turned to Kirby and shared a grin with him. "Kirby, let's go explore the ship!"

Kirby blinked curiously and then nodded, happy to go along with whatever his friend wanted. "Po!"

* * *

"Whoah," Bun breathed in awe. "So this is a real battle ship."

Trapped within a crater or not, the vessel was still a regal sight. It was painted a blazing shade of orange, golden streaks going through it, and silver gleaming from the mechanical parts. There were various guns and weaponry attached to the sides, pointed upwards. Bun had seen many ships in books, and that belonged to the many that crash-landed on the planet, but this sleek and striking vessel, built brilliantly for speed and maneuvering, was the most beautiful of all.

"Poyo," said Kirby.

"I hear you buddy," Bun murmured. "I so want this when I grow up."

"Poyo!"

"I know! Just looking at it makes me want to try and fly it, even if it's half-crushed by—,"

"_Poyo_!" Kirby interrupted, urgently pointing behind him.

"What is it?" Bun glanced behind and saw a shadowed figure in a tree above. A pair of cat-like luminous amber eyes stared right at him. Bun saw the silhouette of large wolf-like ears and a tail. The thing, whatever it was, tensed down in the tree, as if to pounce.

"Run Kirby!" Bun shouted, terrified of those ferocious-looking eyes.

"Po!" The small pink puffball obeyed and sprinted to the right, with his friend following.

They rushed blindly into the forest, snapped twigs and branches and half-tripping over roots. They would have run right into a flowing river, if they had not bumped into Sword and Blade who were walking just before it. The two green-clad knights turned with surprised exclaimations as they were smashed into by the two stampeding children.

"What is it?" Blade asked urgently, topknot swaying, as he drew his sword upon seeing Bun's panicked face. "You guys shouldn't be here. It could be dangerous."

"W-we saw something!" The boy blurted out, "It probably came from the ship! It had scary-looking red eyes and it was in a tree and it looked like some wild animal that was—,"

"A demon beast?" Sword murmured seriously, grip tightening around a glinting blade.

"Why would one come in a ship?" Blade wondered tensely. "And not his Majesty's transport system?"

"Maybe…that would be too obvious," his companion theorized hesitantly, as the two began rushing in the direction where Kirby and Bun had come. After instructing those two to run away from the forest, Sword continued, head bobbing anxiously. "This must be a surprise attack, since we expect all demon beasts to come from the transport machine."

"Then this demon beast must be powerful if they went through all that trouble." The two slowed as they reached the ship's crash site, their weapons quivering with tension in their hands. The damaged orange ship still lay quietly in its crater. There were a few fallen trees but that was from the vessel's rough landing. Birdsong echoed cheerily amid the woodland, giving no hint to any demon beasts.

"Don't let your guard down, Blade."

"Yeah."

They circled the area cautiously, eyes flickering through every tree. Blade whirled around swiftly, as he spotted movement in the shadows. "There!"

The two charged after the small figure which raced away.

"Sword, it's headed south."

"That's fine. We'll drive it away from the village."

Blade lunged as they caught up to the creature, his sword missing it by an inch. With a blur of movement, the demon beast leapt onto a rock and finally turned to face them. Sword and Blade gasped at the sight of what they were fighting.

Their small opponent held a stark similarity to Kirby, except it was white rather than pink. Orangish blushes streaked the cheeks matching its eyes, a blazing playful shade of amber. The animal-like qualities Bun had described were on a hat; Furry fox ears adorned the russet orange cap, complete with a fox tail that hung from the back. There was even a looped earring hanging from one of the fake ears. A small diamond-shaped red jewel was fixed to the center of the hat, gleaming like blood. All in all, the enemy looked like Kirby that had taken on a strange new transformation.

The demon beast wore a cat-like smile that would have been positively adorable. "Hello~," She said, in a female's melodious, singsong tone of voice. She tilted her head—or rather her entire body—sideways in a gesture of curiosity. "Are you two my opponents?"

"That's right," Sword snarled, taking a fighting stance. Nightmare had obviously been clever in creating this new monster, to base it off of Kirby just to get them to let their guard down. It was cute and harmless looking, but they knew—or rather Meta Knight had taught them—to never underestimate the foe.

"Be careful," Blade said, his thoughts mirroring Sword's. "We'll attack from each side. Don't give her a chance to react."

The two knights circled the intruder. She watched them move, with an expression of amusement on her face.

"Now!" Sword charged first, weapon streaking brightly. Out of absolutely nowhere, their enemy produced what looked like a wand one would find in a child's magic trick set. One end had a small ball attached and the other was diamond-shaped. It was small and short and seemed nothing like a weapon. But upon having it waved lightly in his direction, Blade felt an invisible force take hold of him and fling him into the air. There was painful impact a second later; Sword had suffered the same fate and was sent crashing into him.

Both fell to the ground stunned, swords dropping from their grips. The enemy puffball stood in the same spot, holding her wand in a relaxed grip, a friendly smile on her face.

"Th-this opponent isn't a pushover huh," Blade growled as he rose and fetched his weapon from the ground.

"Test her defenses," Sword replied, sharp blade glinting in readiness. "We'll see how long someone can last with only cheap tricks."

"Cheap tricks?" The fox puffball repeated, cocking her head to the side as if contemplating that hard. She smiled. "Not everyone enjoys flapping swords at people's faces, you know."

"Try to get the wand out of her hand. That must be the source of her power." Sword continued in a lower voice, but apparently the knight was overheard anyways, as the girl looked slightly offended.

"It's a baton, not a wand! And yes—," She raised her other hand as if to ward off argument. "There _is_ a difference."

"Funny. I always thought they were synonymous," Blade found himself muttering, before shaking off such frivolous thoughts. This girl, whoever she was, obviously did not take battle seriously. He could not let himself be distracted by that.

Blade attempted a behind-the back sweep with his legs in order to trip her, but the puffball merely jumped back. She grinned happily and waved her wand in such a carefree and jovial manner that Sword expected magic words and perhaps an "alakazam" to accompany it.

Once again they was lifted into the air and tossed about like rag dolls. Blade let out a cry of alarm as Sword's flailing weapon missed his helmet by an inch.

This time he ended up tangled in the roots of a nearby tree. After several moments of struggling to free himself, Blade crawled to his feet, ignoring the bruises he had received. "Alright…it's time to get serious, Sword. We're done holding back."

"Yeah." Both took a solid fighting stance, breathing in and out deeply once, as they cleared their minds and focused on the opponent. Just like Meta Knight had taught them. Blade could practically hear their lord's voice breathing in his ear, pointing out the best footholds around the enemy. He nodded at the instructions of the imaginary Meta Knight and leaned forward, his weight distributed evenly on the balls of his feet.

"Hmm hmm~," Their foe hummed in a lilting tone of voice. Again, she demonstrated a thoughtful head-tilt. "You guys do remind me of someone I know." She paused, and then her smile got wider. "Could it be…nay. That's ridiculous! Thinking of that stuff…How silly of me," She laughed in a slightly pained manner at the joke that only she understood.

"Sword! Blade!" A familiar voice echoed suddenly from the trees. This time, it was not Blade's imagination. Both knights stiffened in shock before standing at attention. The laughter from the girl broke off just as abruptly.

"Meta Knight-kyou!"

"Are you alright?" Their lord emerged, cape billowing outwards like the wings of an avenging eagle. His eyes shimmered green, as he held Galaxia aloft. "I will take things from here. Turn," He called sternly to the girl, who was still facing Sword and Blade. "I am your opponent now."

She blinked once, an unreadable expression on her face now. "I…just jinxed it, didn't I? I see. Fate, as you would put it, is amusing indeed." Her laughter returned, but it was softer and more wistful.

The green eyes narrowed. "I know that voice."

"Of course you know that voice," was the airy reply. "If you didn't, I would get angry at you."

She turned around finally. Meta Knight's grip on Galaxia loosened slightly. His eyes flickered rapidly from green to orange to white and very briefly but brightly blue—before returning back to forest green. "K…you? You're…alive." His voice dipped slightly at the end, seeming to tremble for a moment.

"You sound pretty unhappy to see that," She replied with mock dismay. Her mouth, however, was curved in a gentle cat-like smile meant to be cute.

"Meta Knight-kyou?" Sword questioned cautiously, unsure what to think. Blade said nothing, refusing to lower his weapon even then.

"It's fine," The masked knight's voice had returned to being steady and quiet and level, the glowing eyes once more a calm yellow. "You may return to the castle. She's…an old friend."

His two faithful servants stared at him for a good two seconds, before Sword nudged Blade out of his stiff stance, and the two hastily rushed back towards the town.

"Kitsu." Meta Knight finally said quietly, sheathing Galaxia and sitting down. Still half in shock, he slumped slightly against a moss-covered rock, the dappled sunlight throwing patterns on his midnight blue cape.

"That would be my name," She replied cheerfully, giving the baton in her hands a twirl. "Were those your subordinates? I'm sorry if I beat them up too much. But, if it makes you feel better, I brought food~!" She spoke the last sentence in a cheerful, singsong tone as she produced a large candy bar the size of Galaxia, out of nowhere.

"You brought food," Meta Knight repeated nostalgically, his eyes tinged pink for a moment. He wanted desprately to ask her how on earth she was alive, but knowing Kitsu, she would refuse to step into the bounds of serious conversation. "I suppose you have been living off of that kind of 'food' on your voyage here?"

"Of course! Anything that isn't sweet is not considered proper food." She peeled apart the wrapper, broke off the top of the chocolate, and popped it in her mouth. Before he could react, she put a large generous hunk in his hand. "Here."

He stared at the candy hesitantly before etiquette impelled him accept the gift and solemnly tuck it under his mask, where sounds of polite chewing could be heard. "Thank you," He said courteously, after he had swallowed.

"Hmm hmm~," was the overly enthusiastic reply. "Are you still a stiff ice block after all this time?"

"You are too familiar with everyone you meet."

She sniffed, ignoring that. "Maybe that's why you have no friends."

"You don't count yourself as my friend anymore?" He countered with practiced ease, filling his voice with the same mock hurt that she had used on him.

She turned and looked as though to give a smart reply, only to see Meta Knight's eyes golden and steady and serious. "You're no fun." She cried cheerfully, signaling her surrender, but still wearing the ever unfaltering cute-face smile.

Having indulged in the ritual banter with her, Meta Knight used the opportunity to switch to the more serious subject. "Kitsu. How did you get here?"

She disregarded the way his eyes melted back to green and continued to munch on the candy, replying in the ever-constant lighthearted tone of voice. "I flew in a spaceship. Duh."

His silence told her that that was not the answer he was seeking. After a moment, Kitsu sighed and seemed to visibly deflate, as she slipped out of her childish façade for just a moment to say, "I don't know. The ship is mine, but I had lost it during...you know. I don't remember how I got on it. And I certainly don't remember why I crashed. My driving's not _that_ bad."

After a pause, she was smiling again and had steered the conversation into a direction of utmost randomness. "So Meta Knight, would you go for chocolate cake, or vanilla?"

"…pardon?"

"I haven't had cake in a long time! And I promised you one, didn't I?" Kitsu exclaimed joyfully. "I am going to bake one. And unless you've stopped liking cake—in which case you _will_ no longer be my friend—you can have some, too. Chocolate or vanilla?"

"I…"

"Vanilla it is, then~!" She began walking off. "I would do strawberry, but I don't have fresh ones. Do you happen to know where I could get some flour?"

"…" Meta Knight rose and followed her, noticing without much surprise that she was already heading towards the town without him directing. He glanced to the side awkwardly and murmured very softly to himself, knowing fully that she could probably hear, and already knew anyways.

"I don't like vanilla…"

* * *

I don't know. Meta Knight's never seemed like a vanilla person to me, therefore I assume he doesn't like vanilla.

I know a lot of people like that. Personally, I don't have any problems with vanilla or chocolate or strawberry. It's all quite delicious to me.

And yes. I just went there and pulled an OC. Why? Because I was bored and just writing a story about the characters doing stuff would be boring. If I were to do that, you might as well go and watch the anime-which is over so there's really not a lot to pull-instead of reading a fanfiction. However, there will be no OC/anyone here. I'm not a big fan of romance myself, unless it's extremely, extremely canon. Kitsu's just there...to be there, I suppose. I also have not read a fanfiction with an actual believable OC yet-if you know of one, please tell me, because I really want to know if anyone's pulled it off-so I decided to try it. Why not? I can't promise that Kitsu won't be irritating considering the personality I've given her, but I will do my best to ensure she is consistent.

More technicalities: I will use Japanese honorifics because I'm an anime fangirl like that. If you don't know your honorifics, you should leave because I don't like you. Just kidding. XD There are lots of guides out on the internet. For starters, "Meta Knight-kyou" would be roughly "Sir Meta Knight". If you noticed, I use the English spelling of peoples' names...otherwise it would be _Meto Naito-kyou. _Something like that. I don't stick random romanji or Japanese phrases because that, I think, disrupts the flow of the reading. Occasionally, there will be a _hai_ or a _gomen_ but those will start sentences and not be in the middle of them. (Yes, I am really an anime fangirl. Haha...) So yeah.

As for the timeframe...I have no idea. Kirby's been on Popstar long enough to know the ropes of how stuff works, and lots of previous people have crash-landed/arrived suddenly on ships and chased Meta Knight around (Namely, Silica. XD)

So yeah. And stuffz.

And my long rant on technicalities is over. Have a nice day~


	3. Chapter 2

I do not own Kirby and company. I suppose I do, in a sort of way, own Kitsu.

Hmm...chapter two. It's kind of a bunch of scenes just put together in a slightly boring way, in an effort to integrate Kitsu into the world. Sorry if you're being bored to death. XD

By the way, I was bored myself, and had free time and drew a picture of Kitsu with colored pencils (which was fun). If you're interested, or in need of further mental image, you're welcome to go check it out. I put it as my profile picture of my fanfiction profile thingy.

And so we go.

* * *

"Meta Knight-kyou!"

"Poyo!"

He turned. "Fumu. Kirby." The warrior greeted politely.

Fumu paused and stared at the fox puffball cautiously. "Is that…?"

"This is the pilot of the ship that crashed," Meta Knight replied calmly. "Her name is Kitsu."

Fumu frowned, suspicion in her eyes. "But…doesn't she kind of look like…"

"Poyo!" Kirby cried joyfully. Kitsu's eyes wandered over to him, her amber irises seeming to glow a little brighter.

"He is…"

"Kirby," Meta Knight supplied, his own eyes seeming to flicker blue for a moment. "The one destined to defeat Nightmare."

The fox puffball walked forward several steps and stared at Kirby intently. The young Star Warrior stared back, innocent cerulean eyes wide and curious. "Poyo?"

"He…he's so _cute~!" _Kitsu wailed as she grabbed Kirby suddenly. Both Fumu and Kirby gave cries of alarm as she began squeezing the pink puffball in a hug.

"Nightmare doesn't stand a chance," She was saying as she continued to hug Kirby in a vice like grip. "All he has to do is take one look and he'll melt from the cuteness. You guys live around here, right? Then I guess I'm moving in, too. It seems like a nice place. Nice weather, nice people…and apparently there's plenty of flour for cake-baking. Speaking of which, I'll need to get started on that." With each sentence, her grip on Kirby tightened with renewed vigor.

"Kitsu…"

"_Hai~_?"

"It would not do for you to strangle Kirby before he encounters Nightmare at all," The knight said patiently, seeming absolutely used to her erratic behavior.

"Hmm hmm~," Reluctantly, Kitsu put Kirby down and gave Meta Knight a look of mock resentment. "You always strive to ruin everyone's fun." After a pause though, she seemed to completely forget about the previous conversation. "So where do we get flour?"

"Flour?" Asked Fumu suspiciously, as though that were a weapon of some sort.

"Kitsu wishes…to bake a cake." Behind his mask, Meta Knight winced, but there was simply no dignified way to deliver that statement.

"Poyo!" Kirby grew excited at the prospect, and began jumping up and down.

"Great!" Kitsu took Kirby by the arm. "We can go and bake it together. Come on!" With that, the two raced down the road.

Fumu stared blankly at their retreating forms and gave Meta Knight a look. "Do you know her, Meta Knight-kyou?"

"Unfortunately."

* * *

King DeDeDe glared at the two standing before him. Escargoon stood next to him, trying to look high and mighty as well.

Kitsu smiled, with an aura of perfect tranquility and happiness.

"What happened to Kirby?" The lazy king asked, examining the puffball with the fox hat. "What transformation is that?"

"This isn't Kirby," Meta Knight said, trying to keep a sigh out of his voice. "She is a friend of mine who seeks to stay here. Thus, if your Majesty would be kind enough to grant her a position in the court…"

"Hiyah~," Kitsu greeted perkily, waving furiously even though DeDeDe was only a few feet away. "I'm Kitsu!"

"A friend of yours?" Escargoon narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Looks awfully like Kirby to me. How do we know you didn't get Kirby's friend here to assassinate his Majesty?"

"Absurd. I am his Majesty's faithful servant," Meta Knight recited the familiar mantra, in a monotone.

"So…what can you do?" DeDeDe stared at Kitsu challengingly. "A mighty and glorious king like myself only hires the best and brightest and most _loyal…_Oh…well…Meta Knight's an exception I suppose…"

"You have a lot of exceptions then," Escargoon grumbled.

"And you're another one of them!" Finished DeDeDe as he whipped out his hammer and knocked his advisor across the room. "Anyways…what use would I have for you?"

Kitsu blinked innocently. "I can bake cake."

"Bah! We have Kawasaki for that. Not that he does that particularly well. What else can you do?"

She frowned, cocking her head sideways as though presented with an especially difficult math equation.

"Kitsu can perform magic tricks."

All heads turned to Meta Knight, including Kitsu's.

"Say what?" DeDeDe craned his neck forward, looking eager. "She can do magic?"

"I can do magic?" Kitsu asked, giving a bright and cheerful smile that radiated a decidedly false aura of cluelessness.

"Why don't you show them?" Meta Knight stepped back, his cloak wrapped around himself.

"I…uh…" Kitsu stared as the mysterious knight vanished into some shadows, leaving all attention on her. "Let's see."

She drew a candy bar out of nowhere, to the amazement of the king.

"That's nothing," Escargoon snapped, refusing to be convinced. "Anyone can do that."

"Alright fine. I'll make it disappear."

"Really?" DeDeDe clapped his hands like a delighted child.

"Okay," Kitsu held the chocolate up, twirling it in a hypnotizing manner. "Look over there!"

Both whipped their heads to the right. When they looked back, the candy was gone, leaving an empty wrapper in Kitsu's hand. She squeezed it and flattened it to show that nothing was in it and bowed as the king gave her a standing ovation.

"That's cheating!" The snail cried, over King DeDeDe's applause. "That's not magic!"

Kitsu seemed to be chewing on something. After swallowing she turned to address the king, ignoring his outraged advisor completely. "So, is your Majesty pleased?"

"Yes!" The blue penguin replied delightfully. "That's great. I name you hereby to be…the Court Magician. Yes. That has a nice ring to it."

"Your Majesty!" Escargoon's protest was cut off by another blow to the head by the hammer.

Smiling cheerfully, the new Court Magician skipped out of the throne room and was met by Meta Knight in the hallway. "Hello. Thanks for all the support back there."

"You figured something out," was his calm reply. "Come. I will show you around."

Kitsu followed the Star Warrior down the corridor and into a secluded wing.

"Sword Knight and Blade Knight reside down there," He gestured to the left. "My chambers are around that corner."

"And you have candy." She nodded, referring to the large jar that he kept in his room.

Meta Knight did not bother to ask how she knew that. He had learned long ago that no one could hide sweets from Kitsu. She could probably sense them as well as Warp Stars could sense demon beasts.

There was a quiet pause and Meta Knight decided to take the opportunity to jump into one of his favorite topics of conversation—serious ones that decided the fate of the universe.

"Kitsu. Your landing here is…"

"I know," She shifted her gaze to the wall, cheerfulness dying down slightly. "The war is over. I know. I don't want to know how long it's been. It doesn't really matter."

"Kirby is our last hope."

"Hmm~," She said.

Meta Knight tried his earlier question. "You have to tell me all you remember, Kitsu." He said sternly.

She smiled weakly. "Do you really wanna know?"

Meta Knight smirked slightly, under his mask. She was doing her best to dodge, but Meta Knight knew exactly what to do to get her to spill. The day he would be unable to handle someone he knew almost all his life, was the day he started liking vanilla. Meta Knight wrapped his cloak around himself and waited patiently. The Court Magician stared at him, amber eyes flickering with merriment. The knight stared back with steady luminous and slightly amused golden orbs.

_You'll never beat me in a staring contest_, they said. Kitsu looked away finally, heaving a sigh.

"Fine, fine. You win. But there isn't much to tell."

"I'm listening."

* * *

Kirby, or course, ended up inhaling the cake before anyone else had a chance to pick up a fork. Privately, Meta Knight was relieved. He had been "invited" (or rather, physically dragged) to the castle kitchen by Kitsu and forced to behold the vanilla cake. It had been large and fluffy around the edges with enthusiastically applied frosting.

He really did dislike vanilla.

Fumu and Bun were also present, along with Kirby. Fumu sat in the chair, looking slightly uncomfortable, flashing the occasion wary glance at Kitsu. She did not trust the strange newcomer, and Meta Knight, of course, was as unwilling to divulge information as ever.

"Look what you've done," Bun sighed in disappointment at Kirby, putting his utensils down sadly. "I really wanted to eat that cake…"

Kirby attempted to give them a guilty look, when Kitsu said cheerfully. "Oh well~! That just means we eat the other one!"

She materialized a second cake from nowhere. This one…was chocolate. Creamy red velvet lined the circumference of the treat, having been decorated with a steady and expert hand. Hunks of what looked like cookie dough poked out artistically from between the layers of the rich smooth chocolate. Meta Knight swallowed and his fingers twitched slightly.

With deft flicks of her wrist like an artist painting a masterpiece, Kitsu cut the cake into perfect slices and distributed them. The other immediately dug in but Meta Knight hesitated, the mask on his face feeling very heavy indeed. He blinked, torn between excusing himself right there and _not_ eating Kitsu's chocolate cake—which he knew, firsthand, was the most delicious thing in the universe—and exposing his face to the children. Neither option was very appealing, and the longer he hesitated, the more questioning looks he got.

"Meta Knight-kyou! The king would like to speak to you." Saved!

"Yes. I will be right there." He would have to thank Blade later, for bailing him out. Smoothly, Meta Knight slid out of his seat and as he had hoped, Kitsu insisted that he take a slice of cake with him.

Needless to say, Meta Knight was a few minutes late to his appointment with the king. It had taken quite a long time to make sure to eat and savor every single crumb.

* * *

Fumu did not like not knowing stuff.

She was proud to be the most informed one in the village, and she had been proud of that, ever since she was a child. No one else was simply willing to work hard, willing to search through books for answers to the world. Her curiosity and knowledge were the two things that Fumu had thought she could never be contested in.

The one thorn in her side was Meta Knight.

Fumu, like all the others, held the chivalrous knight in high regard and respect, but he also drove her absolutely crazy. It seemed that Meta Knight went out of his way every day, to frustrate her anew with his riddles and mysterious nature. At first, Fumu had allowed herself to get angry over the fact that the elder Star Warrior only gave information when it was absolutely necessary and she was not able to find it out herself. But the girl gradually realized when she had met her match; Fumu had accepted long ago that Meta Knight would always be the one puzzle she could never solve, no matter how many people she met or books she read. The difference in age and experience and power would simply always be too great.

But Fumu was not about to accept a second person into that category. Kitsu's landing on Popstar was anything but not suspicious. And Fumu was going to find out _everything_ about that strange puffball. She vowed to herself, by the end of the day, she would know Kitsu's mind inside and out, as well as she knew Kirby's.

It was easier said than done. The erratic, newly-dubbed "Court Magician" seemed to be everywhere and nowhere at once, all the time. She flirted from area to area, seeming to teleport out of one place and materialize out of another, in the most hyper and sugar-induced manner. By the time Fumu got to a place where Kitsu had been spotted, the magician would have gone somewhere else.

Fumu thought about asking Meta Knight several times, but her pride would always brush that idea aside. She was confident in her ability to do it herself. Besides, the warrior would only dodge her questions like he usually did.

After seemingly hours of dogged searching, Fumu finally managed to pin her target down, at a riverside. Kitsu was sitting on a rock, fox hat ears ruffled by a soft breeze, seeming lost in a daze of serenity.

A bridge over the river gleamed with shiny new-looking acrylic yellow—they had repainted it less than a week ago. The neat rows of small cotton-headed reeds danced in the wind, dragonflies darting above them like indecisive shoppers over grocery store goods. The sky was a clear marble-blue shade, filled with large puffy and creamy-looking clouds which resembled the mounds of generous frosting that Kitsu heaped on her cakes.

"Kitsu-san. What are you doing all the way out here?" Fumu's sharpened voice bubbled at an odd pitch above the sound of running water. The magician turned, amber eyes lively and dancing with humor at some joke that was never said.

She smiled brilliantly. "Ah! Fumu-san! Hello~! I was just hanging around. You guys really do have nice weather around here!"

"Yes we do," Fumu said, trying to sound agreeable. She tried to set the conversation in a casual tone at first, to lull her target into complacency. "We don't get too much rain either. The winters aren't bad, although the summers are a little hot. This week will be okay though. There's a cool breeze front coming from the north—says the weather channel," She added hastily. Sometimes her overly knowledgeable manner of speaking drove people away.

"Ah yes. I do like nice weather." Fumu thought the statement was said in a rather purposefully airheaded way, but she decided it was her imagination. The magician did not strike her as a particularly subtle person.

Kitsu nodded pleasantly, a slightly distant smile on her face. She radiated quite a friendly and easygoing air, and so Fumu deemed it safe to begin faintly steering them towards where the information was.

"I like astronomy a lot. What about you?" She asked, putting it in a conversation-sparking, relaxed tone. Fumu assumed anyone who owned a space ship needed to have a fair knowledge of the territory they navigated in.

"Astronomy," Kitsu repeated in a friendly manner. Fumu was quite frightened to see her tilt her head in a rather clueless way. "Fun stuff."

"Too bad Popstar doesn't have any interesting things around it." Fumu pressed, getting a little impatient. "No particularly unusual gravity fields…not even any nearby asteroid belts. Does your home planet have anything particular?"

"My home planet?" Kitsu mused in a musical tone of voice which revealed no emotion. "Hmm hmm~…I don't quite remember. It was a long time ago."

Was she dodging Fumu's questions on purpose? The girl narrowed her eyes slightly, starting to think that Kitsu was more than the clueless, carefree personality she put out.

"Is that so? But it's your home planet. Surely you remember something?"

"Nope!" Kitsu laughed as though that were extremely funny. "I don't even remember its name. It was a rather boring place and I didn't spend much time on it anyways. This planet's a much nicer place to be."

"You think so, really?" Fumu laughed along with her, attempting to get hold of the conversation again. "But really. It's so peaceful around here it sometimes gets boring." That was a blatant lie. "By the way, Kitsu-san. How _did_ your ship crash? There's nothing really treacherous around our atmosphere. Was your ship damaged?" Fumu pumped as much innocent curiosity in her voice as possible.

"Hmm~? Well…I think I fell asleep at the controls!"

"…What?"

"I fell asleep," was the blithe and unconcerned reply. "I was really tired for some reason! And then the next thing I knew—bam!" Kitsu made a gesture with her arms. "It was really scary! But everything's okay now. I do hope my ship's okay though." She brightened even more. "I think I'll make strawberry cake tomorrow! You guys have fresh strawberries grown somewhere, right?"

Fum nodded, keeping the phony smile on her face. It was hopeless. There was obviously nothing in this person's head but thoughts about cake. There was nothing left to do but to try her luck with Meta Knight. The frustration rised up within her, but she pressed it down with difficulty.

Politely, Fumu excused herself and began to leave, trudging over the hillside.

Kitsu watched her go, a faint amused smile on her face. She was not one to be cruel, but she had to figure out what happened herself before she started telling everyone who asked.

Alone now, the Court Magician directed her gaze back to the serene scene of the river and continued watching the dragonflies.

* * *

And there we are. How badly were you bored? Did this chapter serve any purpose at all? Meh. I don't even know anymore. \(^o^)/

I do intend to include some action, so hopefully, the next chapter will be more interesting.

I may have portrayed Fumu a bit as a manipulative-stalker-creeper...XD

Let's dismiss that as curiosity. But then I personally don't really like Fumu. However, she is one of the few characters who is intelligent enough to view the world in an intelligent manner. Everyone else would just be like...idiotic? I don't think much rational thinking goes on in Bun's head...certainly not in Kirby's. And putting the entire thing in Meta Knight's perspective would make it kind of morose and redudant, I guess.

Ah well. Next chapter will be coming soon, I think.


	4. Chapter 3

I do not own anything of Kirby.

Chapter three...kind of short. But stuff starts happening now. Hopefully, it's less boring and stuff.

By the way, thank you for everyone's reviews. They mean a lot to me. ^.^

* * *

Meta Knight stood facing the fountain, watching the clear water sparkle in streaks and arcs. It was a golden late afternoon. The sun had not sunk too low yet, but it shone in a ripened drowsy ball barely over the treetops. The first and boldest fireflies were emerging, glistening like lampbearers. Sleepy birdsong drifted harmoniously through the summer air. He heard Fumu's footsteps before he saw her image reflected in the pool and before she greeted him by his name in a rather confrontational manner.

"Is something wrong, Fumu?" The Star Warrior asked gently, keeping his eyes lowered on the pool as if fascinated by the ripples and reflections.

"Meta Knight-kyou…I know you keep a lot of secrets, but just…just what is your relationship to Kitsu-san?" There was a slight note of disapproval in her voice as she pronounced the fox puffball's name. Fumu thought Meta Knight would keep better company than a seemingly airheaded and clueless person like her. They certainly did not need another idiot residing in the already education and common sense-deprived town.

He smiled in amusement, behind his mask. Of all the people of the kingdom, Fumu was the only one who dared to directly ask, no _demand_ answers from him. It was her protectiveness of Kirby and the others that probably drove her to face him so boldly, as he was usually the one who knew the cause of a problem. Still, it was quite admirable, for one of her age.

"Kitsu…is an old friend of mine." He said, giving the standard answer. The image of Fumu in the water crossed her arms, unsatisfied.

"Is she a fighter of the Galaxy Solider Army? A Star Warrior, too?"

Meta Knight hesitated for a moment and then shook his head, but Fumu could not tell which of her two questions the gesture was addressing. "Not everyone in the Galaxy Soldier Army was a fighter. Kitsu was a combat medic."

"A medic?"

He nodded. "They did not take part in battle except to defend the injured and heal them. They risked their lives on the front lines and their existence was one of the reasons we held out so long against Nightmare." He breathed out softly. "Kitsu saved my life on several occasions. Unfortunately, I was not able to return the favor when it mattered." His eyes glimmered darkly with sorrow. "It was near the end. She..." He paused for a moment, but his voice remained level. "...I could only assume her death."

"How did she survive?" Fumu found herself asking.

"…She does not really talk about it. You could ask her yourself. Don't try too hard though," His tone softened. "You'll exhaust yourself. Kitsu prefers to speak of cheerful things."

Fumu narrowed her eyes further. She was pretty sure that Meta Knight knew more than he had just told her. Surely Kitsu had told him about her landing? That was the part Fumu was most interested in. The girl opened her mouth about to ask another question. "Is Kitsu-san—?" She began.

Right on cue, as though summoned by the sound of her name, Kitsu ran right past them, the fox tail on her hat whipped up by the wind. "Hiii Meta Knight! And Fumu-san!" She added with such elation that Fumu had to wonder what occasion it was.

"Shouldn't you be entertaining the king with your magic tricks?" Meta Knight said, calmly.

"Oh I was," Kitsu laughed in an effervescent manner, "But then the demon beast he summoned burst out of nowhere and started chasing me around!"

"_What_?" Fumu cried in alarm. "Where?"

"Who knows~?" The former medic sang, completely unconcerned about the news that she had just delivered. "But it was very large and scary and it breathes fire!"

"Fumu. Go with Kitsu. She will protect you from danger." Meta Knight drew his sword and began running towards the castle.

"Where are you going?" The girl cried, frantic that she was being left all alone with the unreliable Kitsu as "protection from danger".

"I will evacuate everyone from the vincinity of the castle," was the already faint reply. "Go!"

"R-right." Fumu turned and chased after the fox puffball, still finding it extremely difficult to believe that she was capable to protecting anyone at all.

Kitsu rushed cheerily along the path, the single earring in her fox ear jingling.

"Where are we going?" Fumu demanded.

"Away~," Came the airy reply. There was large explosion behind them. Kitsu didn't even flinch as debris began raining down. Fumu let out a startled scream and covered her head.

"Come," Kitsu said calmly reaching her hand out. A shimmering baton appeared in it, spinning rapidly in the air. The blur of the spinning formed into a sparkling oval shape that arced over Fumu's head and easily deflected the falling wreckage.

"Are you okay?" She asked in her unfalteringly easygoing manner, as the baton returned to her left hand and floated, just above it.

"Y-yeah."

Fumu followed her companion atop a hill—the kind that Meta Knight would gladly spend time sulking alone on—and finally turned back to watch the spectacle unfolding at the castle. A large draconian creature was coiled around a tower, spitting flames angrily at the small pink ball that raced to dodge. Without direction, Kirby could only run in wide circles frantically. Another volley of fireballs roared towards the young Star Warrior.

"Kirby!" Fumu cried out. "Inhale it!"

The pink puffball obeyed, swallowing a flaming missile with ease and transforming into Fire Kirby. Fumu followed up by summoning the Warp Star for good measure and it was not long before Kirby had the demon beast knocked to the ground with hot-pink flames.

"Yes! Go Kirby!" Fumu jumped up and down and when she glanced to her left, was mildly surprised to find Kitsu cheering besides her with just as much, if not more enthusiasm. However, her choice of words was extremely odd.

"You can do it, Kirby! Don't give up!"

Fumu gave her a sideways look. "What do you mean? Kirby's not losing the battle—,"

A wail of surprise echoed through the castle courtyard as the young Star Warrior was sent flying into the air. The demon beast had risen again, seemingly unharmed. The fire leaking from its mouth seemed hotter and more deadly than ever.

"What?"

"Drakinin," Kitsu said cheerfully. "It's an—,"

"Elemental demon beast which gets stronger if hit by its own type of attacks." Finished a voice besides them. Fumu jumped in surprise.

"Did I startle you?" Meta Knight asked. "My apologies."

"You just totally stole my thunder," Kitsu complained, her mouth turning down into an attempt at a frown. She failed, however, mouth turning back upwards a moment later, to her typical gentle and cheerful cat-like smile.

He ignored her, continuing with his explanation. "Fire Kirby won't have any effect on it."

"Then why don't you intervene?" Kitsu interjected. Meta Knight had just gone running towards the castle, Galaxia waving like a maniac, but upon his return now, he stood quite calmly, making no move to join Kirby in the fight. Fumu, who often seen the same thing in past battles, took the opportunity to give Meta Knight a sharp look.

"In order for Kirby to grow, he must learn to fight through difficult situations."

"Cold as always, Meta Knight-kyou," Fumu muttered, turning away slightly. Kitsu merely smiled, radiating an air of joy.

"I see that you still have a stick up your butt like always."

"You are still too carefree."

"_You_—," Before Kitsu could get her comeback out, fire rained down on them. Meta Knight grabbed Fumu and shoved her behind him, which was rather uncustomary. Usually, he would shove her _away_ from the danger. Fumu watched as Kitsu, fox hat jiggling joyfully, spun her wand in the air again and shielded everyone. Meta Knight had anticipated that she would shield them, without once looking in her direction for conformation. This further confirmed Fumu's suspicions that the two were very accustomed to covering each other even in the midst of battle. The girl was now a_bsolutely_ sure that Meta Knight knew everything about Kitsu's landing.

"That was rude," Kitsu shouted gleefully at the demon beast that was now headed towards them. "Now I've lost my train of thought and I forgot what I was going to say."

"Kitsu—," Meta Knight began, in an effort to tell her _they were in the middle of battle and she should stop talking . _Unfortunately, for some strange reason, her words—or perhaps the fact that she had successfully neglected its attack—angered the draconic monster into a rampage. It snarled and swept a blazing waterfall of flames at them. Kitsu managed to raise another shield but the force of the blast knocked her away. Meta Knight had vanished in the dust, leaving Fumu seemingly all alone. She glanced around wildly, searching for her companions but that was what kept her from noticing the next fireball, which was aimed right at her.

Fumu let out a scream as fire lashed past her shoulder, leaving searing agony in its wake. The air was filled with the smell of burnt flesh—it was sweet and sickening and it made her want to retch. Other than anguishing agony she could not feel or move her right arm. How much damage was done? Was the limb left intact at all? Panic rose up in her like bitter bile and she thought that she _would_ be faint right there—

"_Fumu_!" Her vision was already hazy from the smoke and involuntary tears that rose from the pain. She felt gloved hands grab her and shove her aside as another roaring column of fire engulfed the ground. "Are you okay?" Meta Knight's voice was concerned and soothing and it quelled some of the terror that had engulfed her. Fumu gritted her teeth and tried to answer, but all that came out was a half-pained, half-angry growl.

Even in all the midst of the chaos, Kitsu's voice was full of unfathomable _joyful_ excitement, making her sound more like she was riding a roller coaster. "Of course she's not okay! She's freakin' had her arm burnt off and I blame you—!"

Another explosion cut her off. Fumu felt herself being roughly passed from Meta Knight's hands into another pair. The next thing she knew, she was in the air. Fumu angrily blinked the water in her eyes away and glanced up. Kitsu held her by her good arm and the two of them were…flying?

It was then that Fumu spotted the small, rounded, almost cartoonish-looking pair of golden angel wings fluttering rapidly from the sides of Kitsu's fox hat—in a similar manner to the wings on the hat of Cutter Kirby. Upon closer inspection, it was revealed that neither wing was actually attached to the hat itself. They merely fluttered there in midair, an inch to Kitsu's head, seeming to serve more as decorations than actual mechanisms for flight. Yet with each furious beat, the strange wings bore them swiftly across the sky, away from the noise and the fire and the danger.

Fumu noticed that the pain in her shoulder had faded, replaced with strange icy numbness pierced by spears of torment whenever she was jostled. Was she going into shock perhaps? Fumu craned her neck backwards in an attempt to look at her wound, but her own body blocked her arm from view, and she could not feel, let alone move the limb at all.

Kitsu hummed a vaguely familiar tune as she landed them on a smooth rock in the middle of the forest.

"Well that was really scary!"The fox magician exclaimed cheerfully. "Let's never do that again!"

When there was no answer from her friend, Kitsu walked over, a note of rare concern entering her voice. "Fumu-san?"

"I-I'm fine…" The other girl gulped, trying to tear her gaze away from her arm. She had seen Kirby and the other wounded before but to see a grievous injury on herself was another thing altogether. The more Fumu looked at the horrible burns, the more lightheaded she felt. Kitsu, on the other hand, did not seem the slightest bit perturbed by the sight of the blood and blackened flesh.

"Ouch," She said sympathetically, but more in the manner of _ouch, that bruise looks like it hurts_ rather than _ouch having your arm torn apart by fire must hurt_. "That looks like it hurts."

Kitsu waved her hand and her wand reappeared in a sparkle of light. She beckoned Fumu over and when the girl complied, the white puffball waved it airily over the injury in question and it simply _vanished_. The numbness mixed with the barbs of pain was gone. The skin was smooth and unblemished and it seemed like nothing had ever happened.

"Wha—," Fumu began. Was _this_ the power of the medics of the Galaxy Soldier Army?

"All better? Good because that took a lot of energy and now I'm exhausted~!" She made an exaggerated gesture of wiping nonexistent beads of sweat from her forehead. "Now…let's see if the demon beast is dead yet."

With that, the medic ran off at a respectable pace towards the castle.

"Exhausted?" Fumu scoffed as she had to sprint to catch up. It felt good and relieving, to be able to move her right arm easily, as she ran.

When they reached the castle, there was no sign of the demons beast. Meta Knight and Kirby stood together, looking unscathed. The latter had removed his copy abilities.

"Po poyo!" The pink ball cried in joy as he spotted Fumu.

"Are you alright?" Meta Knight repeated his earlier question, golden eyes warm and calm.

"Y-yes," Fumu looked down at her arm automatically. She had underestimated Kitsu quite a lot. She would have to apologize later.

"That's good." The knight glanced at Kitsu who bounded up to him, looking as hyperactive and cheery as ever.

"_Ara, _that was really frightening!" The girl said, although she did not look or sound the least bit frightened at all. "Does this happen frequently?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"Hmm hmm~," Kitsu nodded eagerly. "Well looks like my stay here won't be boring at least!"

With that, she hopped off, presumably to search for more sweets.

* * *

So yeah. There's a little dose of excitement for what's to come.

Why did I make Kitsu a medic/someone who does not take part in combat? Well...it's always been Kirby fighting and everyone else watching; Meta Knight intervening only when something goes horribly, horribly wrong. So it would be kind of weird if Kirby's fights go easily all of a sudden, because this friend of Meta Knight has amazing abilities and is willing to use them, crushing all of Kirby's enemies and making for a Mary Sue. And I guess Kitsu's too carefree to be the type to go charging into battle.

I was a little cruel to Fumu, too. Maybe I have a sadistic side...ahaha. :D

The chapter really was quite short too. I apologize for that.

And as always, have a nice day~


	5. Chapter 4

I do not own anything in Kirby.

And here we are. I hope this chapter contains enough action too, although it starts off peacefully enough. In here, I guess the plot starts to move forward more and stuff. I wonder if I'm rushing it a little? I was going to include another "filler" chapter, including some action from minor characters like Torkori, Dynablade, etc. But then I realized...I don't care about them. Therefore, writing about them would bore me more than it would bore you. So I guess not. XD

* * *

A small hand tugged questioningly on his cape. Without turning around, Meta Knight said calmly. "Yes, Kirby?"

"Poyo?"

"I'm waiting for dawn. Why are you up so early?" He glanced at the younger Star Warrior who was attempting to cover a yawn. Kirby blinked away his sleepiness and joined his mentor, on the wall of the highest castle rampart. Meta Knight gave him a brief sideways look, but luckily, even standing at the same height as him, Kirby was still just a _bit_ shorter than Meta Knight. Satisfied, the knight turned back to watching the sky, where the soft wet-concrete gray of twilight slowly heated to dusty pink. The first rays of the sun's glorious amber crown peeked cautiously over a distant mountain, seeping through a few leftover misty night clouds.

"Poyo poyo po," Kirby replied happily. He squinted in concentration as he attempted to pronounce a name. "Kee…su…"

"Kitsu," Meta Knight said in understanding, eyes warm with amusement. "I see. Did she tell you that? You did not have to get up just to watch a sunrise, Kirby. A sunset would be the same essentially."

"Poyo," The pink ball said, mouth turning upwards in a cheerful smile that he had evidently picked up from Kitsu. "Poyo po?" The large blue eyes pleaded with him.

Meta Knight smiled, behind his mask. "I'm afraid I'm busy today. You'll have to get someone else to play with you."

"Poyo…" Kirby looked disappointed but understanding.

From another balcony in the castle, a loud cheerful whoop was heard, as someone greeted the sunrise with excess amounts of enthusiasm.

"Kitsu is awake." He said unnecessarily. Kirby nodded, perking up.

"_Ohayo_ Meta Knight~!" The sing-song voice echoed across the courtyard, startling a small group of birds into flight.

"You do not have to shout."

"Do you know where they put my ship?" Kitsu shouted back. She was rather late in finding out the whereabouts of the vessel. It had been a while already.

"They removed it from the forest. It is in a garage beneath the castle. Sword and Blade are repairing it."

"Whaaaa~? They're messing with my ship?" She cried with cheerful outrage. "That's horrible! Almost as bad as—,"

"Poyo!"

"Hiii Kirby~! You wanna come and help me fix my ship?"

"Po!" The pink ball bounded towards her, full of energy. Meta Knight sighed, shaking his head slightly, as he watched the two hyperactive puffballs skip away.

* * *

"Court Magician you say?" The salesman mused.

"Oh yea," DeDeDe waved his hand. "Dunno where she came from but she does good magic tricks. She's supposed to be Meta Knight's friend or something."

On the screen, Customer Service's face grew serious in thought. "Meta Knight's friend? Well that's odd, considering all of his friends are dead. Perhaps we missed someone? But that's quite unlikely…"

The King of course, had no idea what he was talking about. He grabbed his hammer from behind his throne and waved it at the face on the screen. "Enough of this babble and send me another demon beast! I'm throwing a party today in my honor and I have to make sure Kirby isn't around to ruin it, like last time. He inhaled all the food in one gulp!" The blue penguin gnashed his teeth at the memory.

"That's terrible," Customer Service replied, voice dripping with mock sympathy. "I have just the demon beast for you. 'Partroo'…he's guaranteed to keep your party safe."

"Perfect!" DeDeDe cackled as he lowered the hammer. "I'll take it. This is great…I've got this all planned out. They'll sing an anthem in my honor and there'll be a feast and the Magician's performing…"

"The Magician's performing?" The salesman perked up immediately, filled with urgency and curiosity at this friend of Meta Knight's. If it was another Star Warrior, then it spelled trouble. "Well then, since there's magic involved, I'm gonna throw in another monster for you, for free! This one's a super-powerful demon beast…definitely one-of-a-kind, and very rare." He paused. "For this reason, we're only going to lend him to you for this hour. _But_ it's absolutely free. Is that okay?"

"Well I suppose so, since it's free…" DeDeDe thought it over. Besides if the "super-rare, one-of-a-kind" demon beast failed against Kirby, it would die anyways and they'll be nothing left to return.

The monster transport system roared to life. Electricity cackled evilly among the metal spires that glowed white-hot with energy. When the light died down, two squat and ugly creatures emerged. One was as large as a prehistoric bear, jet-black, and had three sword-length, purple badger-like claws on each misshapen paw. It wore a party hat a hideous shade of yellow. It stood in a stooped-over position like an ape, using all fours to walk. The massive shoulders rippled with muscles and power, but it seemed no different than any other standard demon beast. The other one was the strange and unusual one.

Unlike his beast-like companion, the small demon was barely larger than Kirby, more humanoid and balanced deftly on two feet, crimson eyes radiating deadly intelligence. He was a dull grey color, and seemed to be covered in curious runes which glowed orange, like an ancient language was etched over his very skin. He wore a black robe and held in his right paw a short staff capped with a purple jewel. An ugly parody of a magician's hat sat on the demon's horned head, studded with skull patterns and twisted claw shapes.

DeDeDe frowned over the two of them, trying to decide which one was the "super-rare" demon beast. Seeing the badger-ape beast dwarf the magician beast, like a house dwarfed a bicycle, the king concluded that the badger-ape was the super-rare one.

"May I proudly present Patroo and…Krasus." The salesman's voice deepened a pitch upon pronouncing the second name. "They will easily take care of anyone that threatens your Majesty's party. Isn't that right, Krasus?"

The demon magician gave Customer Service a dismissive glance. "As long as there is blood." He rasped in a monotone. Patroo made an unintelligible growl in response, purple claws gorging into the floor, red eyes glowing eagerly for orders to cause havoc.

The King, of course, was delighted.

* * *

"Are you really performing magic tricks at the party?" Fumu asked doubtfully.

"Yep!"

"But…you're performing in front of everyone right?"

"That's right."

She crossed her arms. "Are you going to show us the same tricks you do with King DeDeDe? Not everyone's as stupid as he is."

Instead of getting offended, Kitsu gave her a mischievous wink. "What are you talking about? I've prepared a lot for tonight's show. I'm sure you'll enjoy it."

Fumu gave her an odd look but did not bother to contend with that. It had been just over a week since Kitsu had moved into the village. Within a day, Kitsu had somehow constructed all by herself, a small cottage on the edge of the town, practically within the forest, keeping the newly repaired orange ship she had crashed in, nearby.

Along with Bun and her other friends, Fumu had decided that Kitsu really _did_ wield magic. They had watched her bake a cake from a window once and the fox girl had merely waved her wand once, and sent kitchen utensils flying through the air. Flour sifted itself and poured itself into the bowl and the eggs cracked themselves, all in midair. The cake pan had floated serenely into the oven which had already preheated itself. When the cake came out, frosting was squeezed by an invisible hand and the diced strawberries lined themselves up neatly along the border. Lolololo and Lalala confirmed that it was definitely magic and Bun seemed to believe in it as well. Fumu, however, was skeptical. There were abilities, yes, ones that demon beasts and Star Warriors had, but there could be no such thing as magic. That would just defy the laws of nature. Fumu was sure it was merely an ability of Kitsu's, or just an elaborate illusion.

It was hypnotizing to watch. But the kinds of "magic tricks" Kitsu demonstrated to King DeDeDe were so pathetic that they wouldn't even fool children. (The King however, was happily entertained with them.)

Kitsu acted like a carefree and clueless child in a manner more similar to Kirby than Meta Knight, whose age she was much, much closer to. Yet she seemed to be highly intelligent academic wise, seeming well informed on matters, though especially on trivial ones like random facts about sweets. She was also spotted fairly often in the library, reading from the small collection of advanced books that were otherwise only touched by Meta Knight and Fumu herself. But then, half the time Kitsu was using those same books as a flat surface to doodle on notebook paper—making it impossible to discern whether she ever really did _read_ those books at all.

The Cabinet Minister's daughter gave a soft sigh. Yes, it had only been a week. But already, she sometimes thought Kitsu was even more of a mystery than Meta Knight.

"Well then! I'd best go put the finishing touches on the cake now," Kitsu declared, her fox ears going up and down—the earring jingling—with the force of her happy and buoyant bouncing. "See you tonight, Fumu-san~!"

And she was gone. Fumu let out a heavy sigh. "Geez."

"Is she too much for even you, Fumu?" An amused voice came from behind. She jumped in shock.

"Meta Knight-kyou…" _Would you please stop doing that? _Fumu tried to keep her face from frowning at the knight who stood on a podium nearby. Behind her, of course, as always.

He nodded in greeting, his cloak wrapped tightly around his small figure.

"I don't see how anyone can put up with someone so…happy," Fumu sighed again. A chuckle came from behind the metal mask.

"It does take some getting used to. One learns to be patient from her," He paused and allowed for a more serious tone to spread through his voice. "His Majesty will most certainly have demons beasts present at tonight's party."

"Of course. He always does," A note of snobbishness entered her speech. She was confident in Kirby's abilities to take care of anything that their idiot king could throw at them.

"And it is likely their target will not be Kirby."

"What?"

"They will be after Kitsu in an attempt to identify her."

"But she's only been here for a week! How could they find out so—?"

"Nightmare has his ways," The knight said darkly. "We must not let our guard down. I will keep an eye on Kirby myself the entire time, so I must entrust Kitsu to you, Fumu."

"Entrust her…to me?" She asked, thrown by the choice of words. The knight had already began to turn away to leave.

"Yes. I trust that you will keep her out of trouble," Meta Knight called solemnly over his shoulder. Then, with that, he had vanished into the shadows…or more specifically, behind a pillar conveniently placed near a side exit.

"But…" Fumu started, confusion evident in her eyes. She blinked at the empty podium where the knight had been standing. She crossed her arms and growled, to no one in particular. "Why is everyone always in such in a hurry to leave?"

* * *

Fumu stared, as enraptured as everyone else, as Bun slowly pulled a card from the deck sitting on the small table. At Kitsu's instruction, he held it above her head so that everyone could see it was a Jack of Diamonds.

"Now," The Court Magician pointed to a marker on the opposite side of the table. "Take that and read the label out loud."

Bun blinked at the odd instructions but obeyed. "Permanent." He said slowly.

"Permanent? Alright. Please use that _permanent _marker to draw a picture or write something on the card. Both sides. The more obvious, the better."

Bun scribbled and when he held it up to show the audience, Fumu suppressed a giggle. The picture—drawn over the Jack's face—was a messy misshapen circle with circles attached to it and circles inside it. It was an attempt at drawing Kirby. The back side of the card had Bun's muddled signature scrawled on it.

"Okaaay~," Kitsu said in a sing song voice. "Please take the card and throw in that fire place over there."

"A-alright." The sharp cackle of the card burning caused many members of the audience to flinch.

After the deed was done, Kitsu walked over to the fireplace and poured a small cup of water over it, extinguishing the flames with a long drawn out hiss of smoke. She took a small metal rod and sifted through the ashes. "Looks like it's been burnt to a crisp. Okay now…would I please have another volunteer?"

She picked the mayor out of the flurry of hands raised.

"Do you have a handkerchief, sir?" Kitsu asked politely.

"Well…yes in fact I do." He produced the object from a breast pocket. Kitsu took the handkerchief, flattened it, then crumpled it into a ball and shook it lightly. Out of absolutely nowhere, an apple tumbled out. Next to her, Kirby gave the loudest shout of delight out of all the audience.

With a deft flick of her wrist, Kitsu made a small and sharp knife materialize in her hand. "Now…please cut the apple in half. And see what we find in there."

Fumu found herself holding her breath as the mayor slowly sliced into the fruit. He gasped in shock as the white edge of a papery object poked out of the core. Kitsu instructed Bun to take it and hold it up for everyone to see, once more.

He did with trembling hands; the object from the apple was the Jack of Diamonds, complete with Bun's signature and his doodle of Kirby.

Everyone burst into applause as Kitsu took a cheerful bow.

After the show, Fumu felt extremely sorry for underestimating her once again and went to find her and tell the fox girl how amazing the tricks were. But strangely, Kitsu was nowhere to be found.

Remembering Meta Knight's request and getting rather worried, Fumu asked around, but found no trace of her. Kirby seemed to have vanished as well. Fumu turned her efforts into finding Meta Knight but that also failed.

Thoroughly in a panic over what could have happened, the girl rushed into DeDeDe's throne room. The king sat lounged on his throne with the snail nearby.

"What do you want?" The fat blue penguin gave her an irritated look.

"What did you do with Kirby?" Fumu demanded angrily, without preamble.

"What's this?" Escargoon snapped. "Throwing accusations left and right…what a horrid child."

"I know you did something!" She thrust her index finger condemningly at the king's face. "You're always up to no good."

Instead of getting angry immediately, DeDeDe laughed. A chill went down Fumu's spine at the sound. Something was definitely wrong.

"Why don't you ask Meta Knight then?" Escargoon said, in an alarmingly casual voice. "He seems to always know what's going on."

Fumu whirled around to see said knight standing silently behind her.

"Meta Knight-kyou!"

He did not reply. His head was bowed and his gaze was directed vaguely at the floor.

She frowned. "Meta Knight-kyou? What's wrong…?" She turned her fury back onto the king. "What did you do to him?"

"Nothing," DeDeDe replied smugly. "Just maybe a demon beast that in specializes magic and mind control got into the castle. Who knows…"

"You!" The girl snarled. Then she turned to Meta Knight.

"Come on! We have to find Kirby!"

At that name, Meta Knight looked up and a flurry of hope fluttered in Fumu's heart. It sank like a cold stone in ice water a second later, when she saw his eyes were distant and unfocused and he murmured very softly and sadly. "Garlude…?"

Growling furiously, Fumu grabbed the knight by the arm and rushed down the hall, away from the king's mocking laughter.

On the way, she tried everything to snap Meta Knight out of his stupor. She shouted at him, snarled at him, and even went as fair to bang him on the mask once, out of panic and frustration. But he remained lost in a strange state of being half-aware of the things she was talking about, muttering vague names of people long dead. In the end, Fumu gave up and simply lead him outside, where she tried to formulate a plan.

"What do we do?" She sighed, her anger spent by weariness and worry. The knight, of course, offered no reply.

"I know!" Fumu reached for Meta Knight's hand again. "We'll go to Kabu. Surely he'll know a way to combat this demon beast."

"Don't cry…" He said.

"Huh?"

"It's alright." His voice trembled slightly, attempted to steady itself…as if he was trying to comfort someone when he himself was in need of assurance.

Fumu stopped and stared at him, but the knight did not speak again.

"What should I do?" She asked again, this time, more to herself.

Quietly she took Meta Knight by the arm and steered him towards the forest, unable to do anything but watch, as he struggled in whatever tortured world he was trapped in.

* * *

So how was it?

A bit too rushed? I think I actually put a cliffy at the end. How dramatic.

_"Ohayo" _means "good morning".

Oh, and Kitsu's magic trick thing is one of my favorite ones to watch. The ones where they mark something to identify it, destroy it and then bring it seemingly back...those are pretty cool.

Next chapter soon...it might be a little confusing though. -sigh- I"m pretty bad at this whole develop-a-proper-plot thing.


	6. Chapter 5

I do not own anything of Kirby.

This is where it gets quite messy and angsty and slightly difficult to read. Stuff just flashes back and forth in a crazy manner.

In the beginning it's really rather chaotic, and there's LOT of moodswings in the, well...mood, so you'd have to read every line carefully to avoid getting lost and going "wait...we were just there so how did we get over here...?"

I apologize for that, but I think it helps with the dramatic effect. But still. Surely there's a more efficient way to do this...XD

* * *

Distantly, Meta Knight could hear Fumu calling to him, her voice rising in frustration each time he could not respond. He curled his fist in fury at his carelessness. Most, if not all the demon beasts he and Kirby encountered came in two categories: Big and powerful, or powerful and skilled. All three attributes were easily dealt with. It had been a long, long time since Meta Knight had encountered a demon who wielded ancient dark magic.

Even now, a shadowy whisper at the back of his mind urged him to draw his sword and lop off the head of the girl who was shouting at him.

_Spread your wings and fly_, it said seductively, _How long has it been? They already fear you…why not? You have the right. You're more powerful than those fools will ever be. _

Meta Knight resisted his inner darkness with an unbendable iron will, but that left him vulnerable to the demon beast's other spells. He was left unable to speak, unable to think clearly, unable to remember why he was defying the silky voice in his head, in the first place. Half-dreamt memories floated across his mind in random order, some repeating in confusing intervals. He heard voices long silenced and saw foes long vanquished lunge at him. Garlude lay at his feet, dying over and over again. Again and again, Galaxia sank into Jerca's gut, warm blood spilling over his glove. He experienced once more, every single wound he had ever received, from scratches to lacerations that made his vision go red and white and black.

_Kill them. Kill them all._ The Voice continued unrelentingly. Meta Knight knew he was supposed to ignore it, although he did not know why. The world blurred constantly between walking alongside Fumu in the world of reality and into other places of the past, set in his own mind.

He stood in the darkened shack, stared at the burlap sack in front of him, heart beating wildly. Could it be? But it was too soon…

Meta Knight reached out with Galaxia and Fumu ran out of the way with a cry of terror—one that matched a cry of frustration from Fumu, in the real world—and with a adroit flick of his wrist, he lifted the sack…revealing a small pink ball staring at him with wide innocent eyes.

"Kirby…" He whispered, Galaxia's blade hitting the floor with a dull clang. Confusion, hope, amazement, surprise…happiness filled him. "But now…"

The next moment, Meta Knight was talking to Fumu about how much Kirby had grown. And then he was kneeling in front of King DeDeDe trying not to chuckle at the ridiculous request he was being given. And then, Jercra handed him the locket containing the picture of the baby Knuckle Joe and Meta Knight watched silently, as his best friend died once again. And then, he was handing that same locket to the grown-up Knuckle Joe. Meta Knight knelt, as a pitiful child cried next to him, an orphan of the war that ravaged the universe.

"It's alright…" He whispered, attempting to sound reassuring, but finding a treacherous tremor in his voice.

In the background, Fumu asked him what she should do next.

"Eat cake, obviously," The memory of Kitsu answered. She smiled cheerfully at him, the small star-shaped badge glinting from its place on the side of her fox hat. Meta Knight chuckled as he gave his reply.

"As long as it's chocolate, I suppose it'll be acceptable for this one occasion…"

Her laughter echoed into the next random memory that forced itself onto him. He stood on a battlefield, the trampled grass stained with blood, covered in the bodies of the fallen, and studded with weapons stuck in the ground. Other warriors stood by his side, their swords and shields hanging limply by their sides. Demon beasts stood next to all of them, their crimson eyes glowing in the dark of dusk. No one was attacking. Everyone's eyes, including his own, were fixed intently on the glowing object in the sky, hurtling towards the earth.

Then the temporary moment of truce from the awe was broken as the soldiers of the Galactic Army and the demons all rushed towards the object which was about to land in the middle of the battlefield. Meta Knight sprinted forward, his speed allowing him to easily outtake his allies. He was running amidst demon beasts. Lashing out with his sword, the knight took to the air, tapered wings outstretched. By the time he had landed, he and only a few other knights were at the site of the object's landing…the Warp Star's landing, that was.

A newborn Star Warrior had arrived.

The enemies had clashed for the entire week and in the violence of battle, both armies were reduced to small pitiful forces. Yet neither the knights nor the remaining demon beasts were willing to retreat. This planet was an important tactical point for defending—or conquering—the five other planets in the system.

They had been in a deadlock, both sides suffering heavy losses and battered with exhaustion. The arrival of even a single Star Warrior could easily turn the tide of the battle.

Meta Knight rushed forward, towards the Warp Star. It was a bright and cheery shade of orange, humming with blinking lights. The cockpit of the small ship opened to reveal a small white puffball with light orange blushes, ginger-colored feet, and amber eyes. She blinked at him and then smiled brightly, mouth turning in a cute cat-like grin. Suddenly, the Star Warrior was snatched up by menacing claws. Red eyes leered at Meta Knight. He leapt forward, sword outstretched to defend the precious newborn warrior…

And then the scene shifted and he was yelling at the same Star Warrior who stood before him, eyes firmly on her feet. Well, not yelling. But it came close enough.

"Why would you choose this path?" He demanded quietly, voice as icy as an unforgiving glacier. Others stood behind him, silenced with shock.

"It is my path," She replied calmly, smiling gently. "Therefore, I hereby renounce my birthright and title as a Star Warrior."

The roars of outrage from the other knights melded into the next memory. This one came before the previous.

"…and no matter what I do, she won't get upset," Garlude was complaining to him, as they walked along a marble corridor. "I've tried everything. Strict discipline and showering praise both get zero results. All she does is smile at me and eat candy! How on earth am I supposed to train such a person?"

"Be patient," Meta Knight advised her. He got a glare in response.

"I'd like to see _you_ try." The female warrior snapped, turning away. He watched her go and when he turned around, Meta Knight was in a forest scene, feeling very sorry for himself.

Meta Knight himself was very young, having landed in his own Warp Star not even a full year before. But from his very first battle—the one that his cradle had landed in the middle of—it was evident that he was a genius. The Star Warrior mastered all forms of weaponry within the month of his birth—he had been knighted within the _week_—excelled in tactical and strategic situations even under pressure, and outshone many of the senior Star Warriors. He remained calm and serious in all situations and was already a hero and an idol for younger soldiers. He often aided in training them, and was always successful in rallying nationalism for the army in even the most downtrodden and discouraged individual.

Until now, that was. The small puffball in the fox hat, smiled at him cheerily, patiently awaiting further instructions. She had epically failed in a spar against him, and had it been a true battle, Kitsu would have been dead several times over.

Despite being yelled at repeatedly by other who were watching, the youngest Star Warrior never made an effort to attack. She held the wooden sword in a loose, relaxed, and barely correct grip and lazily defended against any attacks. She did a good job, Meta Knight had to give her that, but she was easily beaten down every time for her complete lack of offense.

In the end, he took Kitsu aside, as he wondered for the fourth time, why Garlude and the others would want _him_ to train this difficult girl. Perhaps they thought he would have the highest chance of success, since he was closest in age to her?

"Why won't you fight?" Meta Knight asked, as gently as he could, wearily adjusting his mask.

Kitsu cocked her head to the side as if contemplating the question with all the brainpower she had. The small earring on her fox hat tinkled slightly. "Will fighting bring peace?"

He wasn't sure how to address the question, but Meta Knight tried anyways. "We fight to defend the peace. This is the path of the Star Warriors."

Kitsu smiled sadly.

The Voice in his head interrupted, seemingly after an eternity. _Kill. Kill. Kill._

It repeated that phrase several more times, not becoming any less redundant.

Meta Knight had, in all honesty, forgotten about that voice. Annoyed, he brushed it aside as he watched, transfixed, as Kitsu renounced being a Star Warrior once again. And then the cheerful announcement that she was going to, instead, serve as a combat medic. And then several scenarios where he was nearly disemboweled, cleaved in half, had an eye put out. Always, Kitsu was there, dragging him out of the way of a blade, wand flashing. His wounds would vanish and she was give him a drained but ever so happy grin. Then she would ask what kind of cake they should have that night.

Her voice mixed in with Fumu's and Kabu's. They were exchanging words, but Meta Knight found that he could not comprehend what they were saying. And soon, the Voice drowned them both out. _Kill them. Attack them._

Before he could even think of obeying, more half-remembered dreams assaulted him. Yamikage's betrayal…holding Galaxia in his hand for the first time…Garlude dying, Jercra dying by his hand…dying, dying, dying. Everyone dying.

Finally, he was fighting in what would become his last battle with the star-shaped badge on his shoulder. Galaxia clanged against the fierce claws of demon beasts. They were outnumbered and outflanked and outmaneuvered.

"Go towards the east. There's more cover there," Kitsu told him breathlessly, her eyes dull and exhausted for the first time. "I will tend to the injured and catch up."

"But—,"

"Go on," She nodded and then smiled gently. "We're having cake after this. I need the sugar."

But he would never see her again. He would survive, the only one, fleeing across the universe in his battered Warp Star. He would spend countless years embittered and burning with grief that would turn into emptiness.

And it was during that memory that Meta Knight finally let his control break and he let out a strangled cry of anguish. For Garlude, for Jerca, for Yamikage, for Kitsu…for himself.

* * *

"…That is the only way to free him," The giant statue boomed and was finally silent. Fumu nodded, taking in this information, when she heard Meta Knight cry out behind her. Filled with alarm, she rushed to his side. He was in the same position as where she had left him, lying on his back, eyes staring sightlessly at the ceiling.

"Meta Knight-kyou?" She asked, shaking him. His golden eyes flickered wearily.

"I'm sorry…" He whispered to a phantom only he could see. Fumu sighed and sat back, disappointed and worried. The only way to break the spell, Kabu had said, was to destroy the caster, or invoke the counter spell. The second option was impossible for Fumu who had no knowledge of such things, but the first option could be carried out by Kirby. If only she could find him…

"Kitsu…" The knight said mournfully.

"Yes~?" Came the cheerful reply. Fumu snapped her head up in surprise and saw the Court Magician standing by the doorway of the chamber within Kabu.

"Sorry I'm late," Kitsu said buoyantly. "I was busy making another cake and…why is Meta Knight sleeping on the floor? That's no good. He'll wake up sore and grumpy and be a pain to be around."

_Busy making another cake?_ Fury filled Fumu and she itched to strangle the useless magician right there, on the spot.

Nevertheless, the girl managed cut off the torrent of reproach that was forming on her tongue and said quickly. "He's under a spell."

"A spell?" Hummed the fox girl as she hopped down the steps. "Let's see…" She bent down as if examining the knight thoroughly. "Hmm…you're right!" She produced her baton and waved it twice in the air, as she said a few words that sounded like silver bells. And then she tapped the wand lightly on Meta Knight's mask. "Rise and shine~," She sang.

Fumu stared at her with disbelief the airheaded simplicity she radiated. "Are you seriously…"

Just then, the knight's dull and unfocused eyes brightened and he started violently, glove reaching for his sword. He had it drawn in half a second and Fumu flinched back as it was swung at her in a rather clumsy and disorientated manner. After a moment, Meta Knight seemed to realize who she was and sheathed Galaxia with a mumbled apology.

"Meta Knight-kyou! Are you alright?" Fumu asked.

"I'm…fine." He sat up, giving his head a few brief shakes. He glanced at Kitsu, eyes turning green.

"They know you're here."

The magician smiled. "Yep. Otherwise they wouldn't have sent…what's-his-face after us."

"Krasus…only Krasus could do this."

"Right! That's his name," Kitsu said cheerfully. Her radiant smile widened into that of a delighted child who had found a new game to play. "This will be fun."

* * *

Meta Knight almost smashed into the wall as they re-entered the castle. He felt remaining vestiges of dizziness in the back of his head. The Voice had been silenced when Kitsu lifted the spell, but he could still feel echoes of malice, urging him to seek blood. The half-hallucinated memories were in a jumbled mess, in his mind, and he found he could not recall which ones he was forced into seeing. It flirted just out of his reach, a barely remembered dream that bounced about in his head and caused a headache. He shook his head angrily in an attempt to get a hold of himself.

"We still have to find Kirby," Fumu was saying, worry in her voice.

"I'm sure he's around here somewhere," Kitsu said airily. "Maybe around where they keep watermelons."

"Not everything is as simple as that," Fumu replied, sounding exasperated and slightly annoyed. The magician merely hummed cheerfully in response, as she produced a chocolate bar from nowhere and began munching on it.

They walked in silence along a darkened corridor, the only sound being their footsteps and Kitsu eating her candy. And then a very familiar and quiet. "Poyo."

"Kirby!" Fumu cried and ran forward without thinking.

"No Fumu!" Meta Knight reached after her, but it was too late. Fumu was grabbed by a pink paw and thrown against the wall.

"Somebody's having a bad day," Kitsu remarked, as the pink puff stepped forward from the shadows. Kirby's blue eyes were wide and unseeing. His motions were choppy and he moved, limbs jerking stiffly as if he was a marionette being controlled by puppet strings.

"He's being controlled," Meta Knight hissed. Kirby, having no knowledge of mental defenses, would be the perfect target for mind control. The knight cursed himself for having never taken this into consideration and teaching Kirby how to defend himself mentally as well.

"That's not good," said Kitsu, calmly.

"Can you break the spell?"

"Hmm hmm~…yeah probably. I will need to make physical contact with him." The baton appeared in her hand. "If Krasus is controlling him directly, he will not let me close." Her voice had subsided from its usual childish pitch into a more subdued and calm tone. Kitsu made a humming sound, like silver wind chimes, as she contemplated something. "By the way, do you know where the pineapples are grown around here? I haven't made upside down pineapple cake for a while... "

"This is not the time, Kitsu." Meta Knight said tensely, as he did the one thing that he thought he would never have to do; he drew Galaxia against Kirby. He was fairly confident that he could easily defeat Kirby without harming him, but the slight tremor in his arm as he lifted the blade was not missed by himself…or by Kitsu.

"There is always time for cake," The girl sniffed, as she stepped forward, effectively blocking Kirby from his view. "Don't be so melodramatic—put that thing away. I will take care of this."

She waited, a look of patience on her face, until Meta Knight slowly sheathed his sword. Then Kitsu turned and faced Kirby. "Tomorrow's weather is supposed to be very good," She said pleasantly. "The sunrise will be especially beautiful. Care to come watch with me?"

"Poyo," was Kirby's forced, mechanical answer as he charged forward, his foot out in what was supposed to be a flying kick. As Kitsu step sided as Fumu slowly rose to her feet, Meta Knight felt the headache grow stronger and he let out a sigh of frustration.

"Call out to him," Meta Knight said, his hand pressed to the side of his head.

"What?" Fumu asked blankly. And then she remembered how it had worked when Kirby had been possessed by the Devil Frog. Cupping her hands around her mouth she cried out. "Kirby, wake up!"

The pink puff turned in her direction, a look of puzzlement on his features. Kitsu took that opportunity to reach out with her baton and poke Kirby on the head gently. Instantly, the young Star Warrior sat down, blue eyes wide with confusion. "Poyo?"

Fumu heaved a sigh of relief, as Meta Knight felt tension he wasn't aware of, leave him in a huff. Kirby blinked at the two of them. "Poyo?" He repeated, wanting to know what had happened.

"Have some chocolate," Kitsu replied as she inserted said chocolate directly into Kirby's mouth. "Come on. We've a demon beast to fight, remember?"

Cheerfully, she turned and skipped off along the tunnel. The others hesitated before following.

They reached the end of the tunnel and found a pair of hideous-looking demon beasts before her. One of them was waving a magical staff around, leaving red sparks shimmering in the air. It seemed to be silently chanting something. The other was a massive badger-like creature, taking up half the space of the large chamber they were in.

Meta Knight and Kirby stared at the spinning of the staff, their eyes wide and wavering, and Fumu realized that that was the monster responsible for their earlier states. She let out a shout and charged at the creature, but the other monster, wearing a party hat for some unfathomable reason, attacked her. With an easy bat of its massive paw, Fumu was sent flying across the room.

"Fumu." Meta Knight said calmly. She looked up, misery in her eyes, expecting that to be a word of delusion from his renewed hypnosis.

"Duck."

"Eh?" Fumu blinked but obeyed as Meta Knight threw Galaxia across the room. The sword stabbed into the badger demon's paw, pinning it to the far wall. The creature let loose a howl of agony which shook the room. Kirby, seeming to have broken free from the spell as well, leapt forward and kicked it in the face. The demon beast fell backwards with a loud crash and was still. Left alone now, the remaining demon, Krasus, lifted his staff and glared at Kirby with unbridled hatred.

"Today is the day you die, Star Warrior," He snarled deeply. He lifted his staff and a burst of purple energy shot forth, blasting Kirby into the ceiling. Krasus hurled another bolt at the stunned pink ball, but this one suddenly vanished. Startled, the demon beast turned angrily towards Kitsu, who was spinning her baton in her hands casually.

"That's wasn't very nice," The fox magician said, smiling sweetly. "Kirby doesn't know how his counterspells. You're just being a bully."

Krasus chanted something twisted and not meant for mortal ears to hear. A black void-like ball was launched at Kitsu. She pointed her wand and replied with a sing-song melodious word that sounded more like a musical note. This attack was neglected, as well.

"You…the only one can contest me in magic." Krasus growled suddenly. "You're…"

"No one," She said calmly. "Here you can borrow this, Kirby."

Kitsu tossed her baton into the air, straight at the pink ball, who took a startled step backwards and then swallowed it out of reflex.

The Star Warrior leapt into the air and when he had landed, Kirby wore a colorful jester hat, bouncing with white pom-poms on the ends.

"Mirror Kirby?" Fumu asked slowly and hesitantly. But no, it was different. Instead of the golden scepter, Kirby held Kitsu's baton. Happily, the pink ball twirled the stick in his hands and pointed it challengingly at Krasus. The demon magician snarled and launched a volley of dark magic bolts, sizzling with malicious energy.

Kirby spun the wand and it flew into the air on its own accord, deflecting all of the attacks in a rainbow arc. The baton danced merrily and shot at Krasus. The demon let out a cry of surprise and attempted to crush the stick with a burst of black flame. The baton emerged unscathed from the assault and began banging Krasus happily on the head repeatedly. Finally, still floating in the air, Kitsus' baton began to spin clockwise, faster and faster. When it was but a white blurry shimmering circle, the spinning baton assaulted the enemy again, twirling him around mercilessly. Finally, it threw Krasus upwards with such force that a hole appeared in the ceiling. The demon magician vanished with a scream, as the wand drifted back to Kirby's hands.

The pink ball, having undone his transformation, reverently handed his borrowed weapon back to its owner.

"Wow look at that," Kitsu exclaimed happily, taking the vibrating baton. "She likes you. We'll make a mage out of you yet, Kirby."

"You've grown a lot Kirby," Meta Knight mused quietly, almost to himself. "To be able to master a fickle weapon like Kitsu's so quickly…"

"Are you making fun of my weapon?" The oversized fox ears on her hat may have been fake, but Kitsu's hearing was amazingly sharp.

Fumu heaved a sigh of relief.

* * *

The party went on, as if nothing had happened. The only ones that seemed upset were King DeDeDe and Escargoon. But no one could figure out why; there was nothing to complain about chocolate cake, right?

* * *

Ah...long chapter. Meta Knight is so angsty. Therefore, I had to end the chapter with a reference to chocolate cake. Duh. XD

I didn't know what transformation to give Kirby with Kitsu's baton. There IS a Baton Twirling Kirby or something like that, but it's like fanmade and I didn't really like the design. Mirror Kirby seemed more magician-like.

So now Nightmare knows about Kitsu. *dramatic music*

And there we go. Possibly more angst in the next chapter. Meta Knight's past is just so depressing. I apologize if I am lowering people's blood sugar. XD


	7. Chapter 6

And I still do not own Kirby.

I suppose you can count this as a bridge chapter of sorts. Fumu is being nosy again about Kitsu. And a little more angst is included. A short respite from the action, but not, I hope, totally pointless.

And so here we go.

* * *

"What are you doing?"

Despite himself, Meta Knight flinched. He turned around very slowly, unsure of how to explain. He was on a ledge which overlooked a small field which Fumu, Kirby, and the other children were currently using as a soccer field. Meta Knight was behind a tree, watching them with an odd sort of intensity.

"I am…watching over them." Of the things that Meta Knight said, there was an unspoken rule that he had to make it sound cool or not say it at all. It was twice now, that Kitsu had forced him to break the rule.

"You are watching over them," Kitsu repeated, amber eyes amused. "From behind a tree. Do you do this a lot?"

He did not answer.

"You do realize just how stalkerish this is, right?"

"It is not 'stalkerish'—that's not a word—his Majesty is very fond of summoning demon beasts. My concern is genuine." Meta Knight replied, voice calm and collected and not at all defensive. Kitsu giggled, as she unwrapped a candy bar.

"Alright~," She said airily, an aura of dismissive tranquility about her. "You just worry way too much then."

Now it was obvious she was looking for an excuse to get into an argument with him. Meta Knight wrapped himself tighter in his cape and turned back around.

"You're such a helicopter parent."

_That_ startled him into replying. "P-pardon?"

Her smile was gentle. "You take everything too seriously. Why don't you go eat some cake? They're just playing soccer. If a demon beast appears, then we'll hear it rampaging across the countryside." She turned and threw him a quirky glance over her shoulder. "Coming? I made chocolate~" She ended that sentence with a lilting tone and the image of the cake enticed Meta Knight into following.

* * *

Fumu's second investigation into Kitsu's past was not going very well. As Meta Knight had told her, Kitsu was still extremely difficult when it came to interrogation. She possessed extraordinary conversation dodging and topic changing skills. And the only things that seemed to reside within the magician's brain were cake, candy, and sunrises. But Fumu had already found that out in her first try at deciphering Kitsu. In her second attempt, she came up just as empty and frustrated.

But Fumu felt it was essential that she find out exactly how and why Kitsu had crash-landed on Popstar. As well as just who she was.

And so the determined girl went to confront Meta Knight once again. Last time, they had been interrupted with the arrival of a demon beast. This time, Fumu was determined to get all the answers she sought in one sitting. She caught Meta Knight in his room, lazily flipping channels on the television. He glanced up at her arrival and then clicked the television off, seeming relived to find an excuse to do so. After all, every one of the channel in Dream Land were merely reruns of different shows that DeDeDe had put up at one point. Channel DDD had not had anything new in weeks.

Fumu stormed up to him, Kitsu's name tumbling in a rather spiteful manner from her lips. Meta Knight understood immediately. He remained sitting in the chair, a rare easygoing aura about him.

"You've exhausted yourself," The knight remarked gently, seeing the expression on Fumu's face.

"She's impossible!" Fumu was in a rather ill tempered state of mind and was not in the mood to put with anymore of Meta Knight's mysteriousness.

Meta Knight listened to her rant patiently, and finally Fumu said. "You know exactly what happened, right?"

He hesitated. "No I do not. Kitsu does not remember everything herself."

"So she _did_ tell you."

Meta Knight gave no answer to that, save to draw his cape around himself a little tighter.

"Meta Knight-kyou _please_ tell me. I have a feeling that it's important to piecing things together." Her voice was earnest and her hands were clasped tightly.

He heaved a mental sigh, but straightened. Something about Kitsu's arrival had been bothering him from Day One, as well. Kitsu had told him some details when he had cornered her in the castle, that day. He decided to get it all off at once. "Very well. I might as well tell you everything then. Sit down. This will take some time."

* * *

She had been born a rightful Star Warrior. But…There had always been something odd about Kitsu. From the day she had landed in the bright orange Warp Star in the middle of battle, she seemed to lack half of her emotions. Anger, worry, _fear_. She had none of it.

And Kitsu would have none of fighting either. She held a detached and disinterested view towards battle and was indifferent to promises of glory or righteousness that they said would come with the war. It wasn't pacifism; it was more of a lack of caring. Meta Knight, being closest to her age at the time was given the task of turning her into a proper warrior. He had spent weeks attempting to decipher what kept Kitsu from picking up the sword. And when he had finally figured it out, Meta Knight wished he hadn't. The memory was fresh and bitter and coppery to the taste.

_The heavens were raining fire and steel and blood, as monsters and warriors clashed in the skies as well as the ground. It was dawn—a new day, a new blood-stained and dark and relentless day of fighting._

_Meta Knight whipped his sword left and right, dissolving monsters as the blade made contact, slicing through mutant flesh. Blood splattered his mask. He whirled around, tattered cape flapping, eyes wide and wild and slightly maniacal from the heat of battle. There were no more enemies around him. Meta Knight waited for that brief feeling of relief that came when he was not fighting for his life, the heavy suffocating grasp of being bathed in blood to lift from his heart. But that feeling was absent. He stood there for a moment, ragged and dirtied by deaths he had caused and witnessed, before turning to chase after another group of monsters. To kill and kill and kill._

We fight to protect the peace._ The words he himself had said to a certain stubborn newborn Star Warrior echoed back at him. Was this peace? Was this protecting anything at all? _

_Meta Knight slowed to a jog and then to a halt altogether, with the mental excuse of taking a breather. He wanted to sheath his sword and sit down, but he couldn't. That would leave him helpless. Instead, the battered knight sat down with his blade still drawn. He was tired. When would this end?_

With your death, _A certain pessimistic part of his mind answered. _It'll be over when you die.

_No. It would be over when Nightmare was defeated. Then, peace would fall and everything would be alright. Until then, it was his duty to defend the peace._

_At least that was what Meta Knight told himself._

"_Are you okay?" A calm and collected voice said. Meta Knight flinched so violently that he hit himself on the mask with the hilt of his sword. Fumbling with the weapon, he leapt to his feet and whirled around, blade outreached towards…_

"_I guess so. You don't look injured."_

"_K-Kitsu!" Meta Knight exclaimed partially in fury. "Why are you here? Only approved warriors can enter the front lines—,"_

"_Tell me, Meta Knight-sempai," The girl said softly, smiling. "What is fear?"_

"_Pardon?"_

"_I've overheard all sorts of theories as to why I won't fight. One of them is that I'm afraid. But I don't know what 'fear' is. I have never felt it. Have you?" She looked intently at him, a radiant and joyful figure in the middle of a blood-bathed battlefield. "Everyone comes back from battle, trembling, saying either how afraid they were or how unafraid they were. That's why I came out here. Fear. Could you tell me? Am I afraid right now?"_

_Meta Knight could not answer dishonestly, for he had never seen more of a blatant _lack_ of fear in his brief but violent life. "No."_

_She looked disappointed. "Oh. Then I guess it's another problem then."_

"_Kitsu…fear is not a bad thing." Meta Knight said slowly. "It is what keeps you alive in certain situations. It's what leads you to fight against the things that would bring you and the ones you care about harm."_

"_Again, with this 'fight' business," Kitsu mused. "Maybe that's what the issue is. I don't get it. Fighting…" She paused. "I don't get it." She repeated and then asked out loud. "What's wrong with me, then?"_

_Pity stirred in Meta Knight's heart. "I don't understand the point of fighting either, Kitsu. But it is our duty."_

"_Our duty," She said emptily. "I suppose so."_

_The words sounded so hollow and empty that Meta Knight realized exactly what was "wrong" with Kitsu. It wasn't fear as much as lack of fear, or lack of skill and it wasn't ignorance either._

_It was resignation._

And that, it seemed, was worse than it all. Kitsu had a complete lack of motivation to set out and change anything. She was too content with what she had, too patient with everyone and everything to do anything against them.

She was too kind.

_He watched her wave her baton, slowly tipping the sack of flour into the bowl. Her amber eyes were narrowed with concentration, as she cracked three eggs very carefully like it was matter of life-or-death. _

_Perhaps Kitsu herself felt the void of that resignation within her that she immersed herself in trivial things in order to attempt to fill it. _

_Meta Knight shook away those rather unkind thoughts. _

"_You know, Meta Knight-sempai." She declared suddenly. Her eyes were still fixed on the cake she was making. _

"_Yes?"_

"_I think I've found the answer."_

The answer to what, _the question was on his lips, but Meta Knight did not voice them. He watched her mix the batter with silence._

The answer was the tossing aside of her title as a Star Warrior. Meta Knight did not understand why she did it—even now he could not comprehend. But he accepted it more easily than the others. He after all, had his own reasons for things that people simply didn't get.

And so, Kitsu became a combat medic. The position was perfect for her. Most of the "combat medics" were afraid to go out among the combat and ended up sneaking in after battles. Which rendered them useless; the warriors that would have been saved had they been on the frontlines, perished as a result. Kitsu had no such fear, of course. She would skip into the fighting, a radiant and joyful smile on her face and offer chocolate to the soldiers.

This went on and on. One by one, the other Star warriors fell. And then it came to _that_ battle.

_Kitsu sighed. "Oh my. The wounded outnumber the healthy. This certainly doesn't bode well."_

"_They're coming," Someone interrupted feebly._

"_We have the high ground," Meta Knight drew Galaxia. "Make sure that our right flank does not collapse. We will hold them off until nightfall."_

_Not we have to hold them off until nightfall, or let's hold them off until nightfall. We _will_ hold them off. The battered knights cast admiring looks at their leader. _

"_Who wants chocolate?" The cheery voice ruined the solemn, we'll-go-down-fighting mood. Nonetheless, all hands went up._

_The demon beasts were coming again, this time in an even bigger wave. Already, hundreds of deformed beast bodies lay in pieces about the area. That was how many enemies Meta Knight's tiny band had slain. But now the knights were exhausted and the demon beasts seemed limitless. Nightmare's strategy of attrition—it had already destroyed the majority of the Galaxy Solider Army and they were next. _

_Meta Knight pointed his sword to the left, barking orders. From behind the ruined remains of a wall—part of a building that had once stood there—Kitsu was attempting to bring another dying soldier back to life. He was already beyond the helps of CPR and the pitiful medical supplies that she had on hand. The only answer was magic. But Kitsu was running low on energy. It was her energy that was keeping everyone alive, not just this one dying man. Even if she saved him, he would be crippled, unable to fight. _

_Her hands trembling slightly, Kitsu removed her hands from him, the white glowing of her magic going out. She watched silently and stoically, as the feeble rising and falling of his chest slowed and then halted altogether. _

"_How depressing," Kitsu mused to herself, attempting to put it in cheerful words. That of course, was a failure and she sat back, exhausted mentally and physically, feeling too empty to even summon up feelings of sadness. It was getting frighteningly redundant. People—people with hopes and dreams and families—were dying in front of her eyes so often that she no longer reacted._

_Beyond the crumpling wall, Kitsu could hear the sounds of fighting, and Meta Knight shouting commands. _

_Mechanically, Kitsu leaned forward again, her eyes on the next wounded soldier. But he was already dead, as well. So was the person next to him. _

"_Ah…" She became aware that she was surrounded by nothing but dead bodies. She gave a small shudder, not of fear but of hopelessness. Slowly, Kitsu rose as she turned away and walked beyond the wall. A brief thought of burying the fallen warriors crossed her mind, but she did not the time or energy to spare for that. Her duty was to the living, not the dead. They would understand._

_Meta Knight, startled to see her emerge from the shelter. "The wounded…?"_

_Kitsu shook her head._

_He faltered for a moment and then said in an unintentionally cold tone. "You'll have your hands full soon. No one is getting out of this unscathed." So saying, he deflected a massive claw and sliced the offending demon beast in half. _

_Kitsu calmly sat down right there, watching the knights fight their losing battle with the empty detachment of watching a movie. _

_One knight, clad in bright red fell, his armor dull with dents. With the last of his strength, he shouted Meta Knight's name and something else, lost in the roar of combat. Meta Knight looked at him for a moment, golden eyes paling with grief, and strained to comprehend those last words._

"_I think he meant we're not going to last until nightfall," Kitsu suggested, her lighthearted choice of words making her sound just as callous as Meta Knight had. The commander did not reply, and returned to shouting orders. Gradually, the demon beasts were pushed back, and when they were retreating at last, no one had the energy to cheer. A grim silence settled on the survivors. _

_Meta Knight was right. The wounded and dying poured in. Two were already gone. The others were on their way out. Kitsu could not do much for any of them without rendering herself useless to the most vital person of the group: The leader. And not just the leader, the one and only wielder of Galaxia. If he was wounded and she could not help because she expended all of her energy on the foot soldiers, that would her fault. At least that was the order Kitsu had been given: Keep Meta Knight alive at all costs, even at the expense of the others. She had also been ordered not to pass the information of the order to Meta Knight himself. He would, after all, be enraged. But he was priority, and there was nothing either of them could do about that. _

_There were twelve left alive, including Meta Knight and Kitsu. Half of those were missing at least one limb. They lay under makeshift blankets, stained with the blood of the patients Kitsu had watched die a few minutes ago. _

"_Sir, we have to retreat."_

_Meta Knight nodded wearily. "We are surrounded. We will need a plan."_

"_How about, just run?" Kitsu said, from where she sat and bandaged a wheezing soldier. _

_The commander of the pitiful group did not seem to her hear, head bowed and lost in a sea of thought._

"_Meta Knight," Kitsu called patiently, and then repeated his name a little louder, until he finally looked up at her, eyes dim with exhaustion. _

"_We've sat here for over three days and we have not lost much ground," Kitsu continued, as though she was absolutely sure that he was listening. "They won't expect us to make a break for it so suddenly." _

"_But the injured…" They would not make it in such a journey. And they would slow their escape, besides. Meta Knight suddenly knew exactly what Kitsu was going to say and he made an attempt to interrupt—but he was ignored. _

"_Go towards the east. There's more cover there," Kitsu said firmly, a resigned smile on her face. "I will tend to the injured and catch up."_

"_But—,"_

"_Go on." After an airy pause, she added. "We're having cake after this. I need the sugar."_

_Meta Knight stared at her for a long moment. His glaring, unhappy eyes were accusing. _You're giving up, _they said, angrily. _

_Yes. She was giving up. That was, after all, what she was best at doing. _

"_Well? What are you waiting for? Get moving before they come back."_

_"I will not leave you behind."_

_"Oh yes you will because otherwise everyone here will die. You won't escape without a diversion. Now go." Her voice was firm and joyful and just so _damn happy.

_With forced conviction, Meta Knight turned to the east, as he attempted to blot all emotion from his mind. "We are retreating," He said shortly, raising his voice to a harsh pitch in order to disguise his pain. "Now."_

_With that, he turned and began walking at a brisk pace. The remaining four knights who could walk stumbled after him. Kitsu watched placidly as they vanished over a hill. _

"_Looks like we're done for, eh, Milady?" The knight Kitsu was tending to, choked out. _

"_Did I not tell you many times to stop calling me that, Sir Iscarus?" _

_He chuckled from behind his stained helmet, as his mailed hand weakly reached for a sword buried in the ground nearby. _

"_What are you doing?"_

"_Going down without a fight is a nasty way to die." Was the blood-stained reply. Iscarus's fingers wrapped loosely around the hilt of the blade, as he attempted to pull it out. Kitsu had to help him in the end. _

"_Now…" The knight staggered to his feet, holding the sword awkwardly in his left hand. Automatically he glanced around for a shield, but then stopped. He didn't have another arm to hold one, after all. The soldier leaned against the ruined wall, just as the other three dying attempted to rise as well. _

"_Oho. Here they come."_

_A massive army of fresh blood-thirsty monster approached, seeming to blacken the horizon. _

"_Make a break for it, Milady. There's nothing you can do for us."_

_Kitsu did not answer. She stared at the approaching demon beasts with an unreadable look on her face. She sighed in resignation and began walking, slowly towards the west, in the opposite direction of Meta Knight and the others. Battle cries echoed from behind her. Gradually, Kitsu broke into a jog and then a run, all while refusing to look behind her. She had sprinted for seemingly many minutes, when she heard the howls of pursuers, which signaled the deaths of the dying knights she left behind._

_Kitsu leapt into the air, the tiny wings on her fox hat fluttering furiously. Where she was going, she did not know. But all she had to do was lead the demon beasts as far as possible, from Meta Knight's survivors. _

_A fireball slammed into her, singing the tail of her hat. Kitsu hurtled downwards but managed to recover enough to maintain flight. A claw appeared in her peripheral vision, sweeping in at her. Kitsu kept her gaze directed stubbornly forward, and barrel-rolled away. _

_Sharp pain raced down her back as something sharp sank into it. Ignoring the pain, Kitsu continued forward with determination she had never had for anything before. Her vision was going fuzzy now and the last thing Kitsu recalled seeing was a bright angel-like wing in the corner of her eye. Thinking it was the one on her hat, she realized that she had never actually had a good look at them in a long time. They were, in her opinion, cuter than she remembered. _

_The world seemed to vanish for a little while. _

_And then, she was on a ship—her ship, which she thought had been lost in a previous battle—careening towards a planet. Kitsu glanced around, completely confused, accidently hitting the dashboard a little too hard. It felt like she had woken up from a long sleep. She was perfectly uninjured. The memories of blood and death were slightly foggy, like a long period of time had passed since then. But that was not her initial concern, for she was busy attempting to regain control of the spinning ship. It was already too late though—something was fizzling sparks on the control panel where Kitsu had suddenly banged her fist down in startlement...and the vessel tipped into the planet's atmosphere with a roar. _

_

* * *

_

"The rest you know," Meta Knight finished. "Kitsu remembers nothing of what happened between her being struck down and crashing her ship.

Fumu was silent for a while, soaking in all of this information. "What could have erased her memory? And how did she get out of that desperate situation alive, but many years later?"

Meta Knight shrugged, his armor clanking with him. "Perhaps it will make itself known to us, in time."

"What will?" A bright voice asked, causing Fumu to nearly fall over in surprise.

"K-Kitsu-san!"

The magician smiled happily. "Hiyah~! It's such a nice day outside. Makes me wanna just go up and touch the sun." She cast an inquisitive look at Meta Knight, who seemed to stiffen for a moment.

"Perhaps you can take Kirby for a ride then," He suggested emotionlessly. "I'm sure he'll enjoy it."

Kitsu paused for a moment, gave him a funny glance, and then hopped away.

Fumu stared, confused at the odd exchange, but Meta Knight was already leaving through another door, a slightly brooding aura settling onto him.

* * *

More flashbacks huh...

And certainly more angst. Next chapter will hold some more angst, I think. Next chapter will also hold actual moving forward of the plot.

I don't think there will be anymore fillers...can't say the same about flashbacks though. Meh. XD


	8. Chapter 7

I don't own anything of Kirby.

This is a slightly insane chapter. Angsty? Not as much...but I don't think the mood's very happy either. XD

* * *

"_How do you like it?" Krasus hissed, stepping forward, red eyes gleaming with malice. "You thought you were rid of me, weren't you?"_

_Meta Knight backed away, irrational fear gripping him. "S-stay away."_

_The demon sorcerer chuckled. "All that I touch will never be the same. You belong to Nightmare now. As you once did." He added, further spite in his slimy voice. _

"_You are being absurd," Meta Knight managed, hiding the strange tremor in his voice. Then he remembered that he had a weapon and his hand groped for Galaxia. He found the hilt of his sword, but suddenly a spark of electricity from the metal snapped at him. Shocked, Meta Knight's hand flinched back as he stared at the blade in confusion._

"_Look at that," Krasus leered at him as he sneered softly. "You, whom they call a hero, having so much darkness in your heart. You're weak. It was a simple matter to place you under that spell." He leaned forward. "You have no resistance…you didn't even struggle. You were eager to embrace the darkness again, weren't you?"_

_Fury arose in the knight now and he reached for his blade again. But once more the sword rebelled, zapping him with golden lightning, with even more viciousness. _

_"Why?" Meta Knight asked in a whisper, eyes wide with the betrayal. _

_And then Galaxia was talking to him, too. The voice of the sacred sword echoed in his head deeply, with cold and heartless words that burned him more than the electricity. _

I serve only the pure of heart. You are unworthy. You are of the darkness.

_The pain only intensified from there. Stubbornly, Meta Knight attempted to continue to cling to Galaxia, but the white-hot hilt vibrated angrily, shocking him even harder…_

—And into awakening. Meta Knight shot bolt upright from his bed, eyes wide and wild. He was in his darkened bedroom, all alone. Soft moonlight flowed from his half-opened window; a soft summer wind blew his curtains gently.

No Krasus, no electricity burning him…although he could still feel tingling in his right hand. The knight took a trembling breath and adjusted his mask which had fallen askew. He recalled, with grim humor, what Kitsu had been saying to him the other day about all of his "unhealthy habits". Brooding all the time was one of them. Sleeping in his full armor, was another. He gave a mirthless, forced chuckle.

Meta Knight glanced to the right and saw Galaxia lying placidly in its sheath, by his bedside where he usually kept the sword when sleeping. Hesitantly, he reached out and grasped the hilt, half-expecting to be electrocuted. Nothing happened, of course. The metal of the handle was cool and reassuring. Letting out a sigh, Meta Knight lay back in his bed, the exact details of the nightmare he had already fading from memory.

He closed his eyes, feeling a headache emerge as he attempted to go back to sleep. However, no matter how he tried, blessed unconsciousness would not come. The knight lay cold and alone on his bed, exhausted but wakeful and a migraine pounding at his head—staring at the darkened ceiling, until dawn.

* * *

Meta Knight had another headache by the time he reached the castle ramparts in the late afternoon. Sword and Blade walked alongside of him. He felt unfocused and tired, the mostly sleepless night taking its toll.

Far above, laughter like silver bells could be heard. Kitsu zipped across the sky like a songbird, the minature angel wings on her hat reflecting shimmering light.

Watching her circle the castle and listening to her overenthusiastic giggles served only to hurt his head even more. Meta Knight lowered his head in an effort to use his mask to keep the bright sunlight out of his eyes.

There was an odd ache around the middle of his back, where his wings would have been. But that was absurd. Meta Knight half turned as though to check that his blue cape was really there, and then kept walking, shaking himself slightly. It was all his imagination.

"Sir?" Sword asked, as Meta Knight leapt onto the wall for no reason, but an inch away from the edge and the ground so far below. Blade stepped away slightly, not liking heights as much.

"What?" Meta Knight asked shortly, feeling an unprovoked burst of irritation.

Sword flinched slightly and the Star Warrior realized that his answer had been rather abrupt and cold. "I apologize," He said gently. "I did not get much sleep last night. Is there something wrong?"

"N-no…" Sword looked away uncomfortably. "Just, for a moment it looked like you were about to…"

Meta Knight looked down and indeed it looked as though he was in the position for leaping off the wall. His feet were tensed forward as if to jump, his body leaned forward at an alarming angle; an obvious difference from his usual habit of simply standing, relaxed and serene, on high places. Sword and Blade did not know about his wings— Which made the position seem quite suggestive of self-harm.

"Ah," He said, straightening and trying to keep his voice calm and lighthearted. "I was not aware that it seemed like that."

Meta Knight hopped back down, and continued his walk at a very quick pace, forcing Sword and Blade to jog to catch up. Blade hung back, behind his fellow apprentice.

For a moment, he had thought he spotted a red glint in Meta Knight's eyes.

* * *

It was midnight, but Meta Knight found that he could not sleep at all. He spent a few minutes pacing in his room, feeling the brutal migraine penetrate deep into his head. The day had gone mostly without incident. Yet Meta Knight found himself in a rather severe mood. He rapidly walked back and forth along the length of the blackened chamber, his image in a nearby mirror—barely visible in the dark—moving along with him. Meta Knight stopped short, when he saw colors flickering in the glowing eyes of the mirror image. They went from their customary yellow to a deeper coppery shade and then briefly to red.

Why was he so agitated?

He had felt off ever since the encounter with Krasus. Meta Knight began pacing again, his long cloak sweeping behind him. He felt slightly nauseous and angry for no reason; something was definitely wrong.

Meta Knight hesitated, sure he was jumping too quickly to conclusion now. Perhaps he was simply tired. After all, because of some nightmare he didn't even remember now, he did not get enough sleep the night before. He glanced at his bed, which looked cold and unwelcoming. He had a feeling that he wouldn't be able to fall asleep this time either, even without the headache pounding at his skull.

The knight sat down on a chair, his glove creeping onto Galaxia's hilt for no particular reason. Lazily, he drew the sacred sword, watching the electricity cackle in the air and the spiked blade appear. Meta Knight waved the weapon in a few strong thrusts, imagining it sinking into the gut of a foe. In his mind's eye, he could see the blood pouring down, seeping in rivers into the dirt of a distant battlefield.

After a moment, his hand stiffened and not for the first time since the headache appeared, Meta Knight wondered what on earth he was doing. It was not like him to think so…brutishly.

He wanted to sheath Galaxia, but he felt that he didn't want to, at the same time. It didn't feel right without the weapon in his hands, it didn't feel secure…Meta Knight caught himself once more, shaking his head. He was just being paranoid now. Reluctantly, he put away the sword and sat onto his bed, lying down in an attempt to sleep.

It didn't work. After a few moments, Meta Knight rose again as he exited the room, his hand on Galaxia's hilt once more.

* * *

"How's it going Meta Knight-kyou?" Bun called cheerfully as he passed the Star Warrior in the hallways. There was no reply, as Meta Knight brushed past at a frosty pace.

Bun stopped immediately. The last time the polite knight had snubbed his greeting was when DeDeDe had summoned a demon beast. Hurrying to his side, Bun asked. "What's wrong? Another demon beast?"

The golden eyes fixed themselves intently on him, flashing slightly in alarm. "What?" Meta Knight glanced around. "I don't hear anything…"

So there was no demon beast. The boy frowned.

"Huh? But I thought…nevermind," Bun attested Meta Knight's coldness to distraction. He was, after all, a busy person; it was a full-time job, keeping their idiot king from killing himself and everyone around him.

Meta Knight paused further. "If there is a demon beast, I would know." For some reason, he sounded uncertain on that note. After another moment of hesitation, he asked. "Was there something you needed, Bun?"

"Uh…no?"

"Then I must be going. There is much to do," Meta Knight muttered something else, but it was too soft and jumbled for Bun to make out. With that, the knight whirled around and walked away, cape flapping sullenly behind him.

"Hey Kirby…" Bun said to the pink ball who had watched the exchange from the corner. "Do ya think something's weird about him today?"

"Poyo?"

"I dunno…usually he's less…" Unable to find a sufficient vocabulary word to get across with his meaning, Bun made a few gestures with his arm.

Kirby blinked in puzzlement. "Po?"

Bun shook his head. "Guess it was just my imagination then…?"

* * *

"Oy, little girl!"

Fumu looked up, hostility immediately appearing in her eyes. "What do you want?" She snapped.

Escargoon crossed his arms. "I'm looking for Meta Knight. Have you seen him?"

"What would you want with Meta Knight-kyou?"

"What would I want? He's a servant, it doesn't matter what I want—he just has to be there to obey! The king, of course," The snail added. "And it's none of your business besides. His Majesty wants him. So have you seen him or not?"

"No I have not seen him," Fumu said icily as she returned to her book. The snail gave a snort of contempt before hurrying on with his search.

He hurried along the dusty roads, sweating from the midday heat, and wishing desperately for the limo-like car he always rode in. But he could only travel in it along with DeDeDe, and the lazy penguin had refused to leave the castle.

"Stupid king…sending me out on foot to do his dirty work…" Escargoon complained under his breath, as he walked. "Stupid Meta Knight…being so elusive and making me have to search…"

"Was there something you needed, Escargoon-dono?"

The snail nearly fell on his face. "Wh-Don't do that!"

"Do what?" The knight asked coolly, from his position in a tree.

"Just appear like that!" Escargoon cleared his throat and attempted to act dominating. "Anyways, his Majesty wants you. So get down there to attend to his wishes!"

Instead of giving a polite but snarky reply and vanishing like he usually did, Meta Knight seemed to almost give Escargoon a _glare_ before leaping from the tree and beginning the trek towards the castle at a rather leisurely pace.

The snail could not help but take a step back. "What's up with him today…?" He muttered, trying to tell himself that of all things he hadn't been, couldn't have been, _afraid_ of Meta Knight of all things. Right?

When Escargoon arrived at the castle himself, he was greeted by King DeDeDe with a hammer strike directly to the head.

"What was that for?" He whined, as he picked himself up from the ground, rubbing his sore head.

"Ya lazy slug! I told you to go find Meta Knight, but it's been two hours. And now you come back _without him_!"

"What?" Escargoon looked around. "I just found him a few minutes ago and he was walking here! It's his problem that he doesn't get here on time!"

The snail was rewarded with another bash, this time on the face.

"Darn it," The blue penguin mumbled to himself, as he paced. "That stupid knight…"

"What do you need him for anyways?" Escargoon grumbled, putting an ice pack on his face.

"My kite got stuck in a tree!"

"…you've got to be kidding me."

DeDeDe glared at his advisor vehemently and he lifted his hammer in a threatening manner. "It's my favorite kite! And the Waddle Dee's are all idiots! The ladder keeps falling over every time they try to get it. Sword and Blade are apparently in the somewhere training or something. _There's no one else._"

"Then get Kitsu to get it for you," was the irritable reply.

"I forgot about her! That's a brilliant idea!" DeDeDe called a servant over. "You! Go fetch the Court Magician."

The fox girl arrived a moment later, wearing her typical cheerful cat-like smile. "You called, your Majesty?"

"Go get my kite!"

"Okay!" Kitsu turned around as if to leave through the door, only to pivot back half a second later, holding…DeDeDe's kite. The king let out a squeal of delight and even Escargoon gasped in amazement.

"That's the Court Magician, for ya," DeDeDe laughed as he took his prized kite from Kitsu. "Ya know at this rate, I might just fire Meta Knight. He's never around when you need him anyways."

"Hmm hmm~? Meta Knight wasn't here today?" Kitsu asked, tilting her head to the side.

"Yes he was!" Escargoon snapped. "I spent over an hour looking for him and when I found him, he just walked off and never came here!"

"So he left…" Kitsu mused quietly, almost to herself. "Well that's unlike him."

"Yeah yeah," DeDeDe waved his hand dismissively. "Well now I got my kite now, so you can go back to…whatever you were doing."

Kitsu gave a brief, distracted bow and hurried out the door.

* * *

Meta Knight was killing trees.

Galaxia was in his hand, flashing with fury as he slashed the pines apart with possessed vengeance. Loud cracks echoed across the forest, as small animals scattered away from the knight's rampage. Tirelessly, he brought the blade down and across the air in angry, choppy motions that lacked his usual grace.

He was angry. He didn't know why—he just was. Half-remembered reasons for his anger flashed across his mind, but they always slipped from his grasp before he could catch them. He was angry because they were dead. Who was dead? Everyone.

Everyone was dead and Meta Knight was furious and full of hatred for someone or something he had long forgotten. No, he could remember the name occasionally, when he paused just before a sword beam. Nightmare. Nightmare, and nightmares that haunted him at night—dark dreams in which everyone died over and over and Kitsu never came back and Kirby was never born. Dark hopeless dreams where the next generation of Star Warriors didn't exist, leaving Meta Knight the only one—a bitter, empty killer with nothing to kill on hand, alone and lost in darkness and hating everything. Nightmare, especially, but not just Nightmare. Everyone. Everyone was to be hated.

A small rational voice in the back of his head—the same one that stopped him when he was constantly attempting to draw Galaxia last night and kill imaginary enemies—asked him what in the name of Sir Arthur did he think he was doing?

Meta Knight couldn't answer. All he could do was attack.

"It's the middle of summer, Meta Knight. Why on earth do you need so much firewood?" A cheerful voice asked.

The sword halted in its murder of the woodland. The knight found himself breathing hard and, as rigid as a board, he turned around very slowly. Kitsu cocked her head curiously. Meta Knight became conscious of the wild state he was in,—standing on top a pile of sawed logs and fallen tree trunks, amidst a field of stumps—his sword dripping with tree sap like it would be with blood.

"Did you have a bad day?" Kitsu asked, smiling gently.

"I don't know." was the blank and bewildered reply.

Kitsu walked over, stepping delicately over the fallen debris. Meta Knight found himself backing up and then he lifted Galaxia and _pointed it at her_.

Instead of flinching away, Kitsu gave him an almost amused look and stepped closer, the familiar blatant lack of fear in her amber eyes. "So it is a bad day huh? You were making so much ruckus I think you shook the foundation of my house." She laughed shortly and started to turn away. Kitsu turned back, after a moment. "Well? Are you coming?"

Meta Knight found himself following, but Galaxia remained rigid in his hand, in a stiff and unnatural and completely _incorrect_ grip. The knight stared at the utter heresy he was committing and immediately corrected himself. That and the calm gentle atmosphere Kitsu projected caused him to calm down and relax enough to reflect on his actions. His thoughts amounted to: What was I thinking?

Kitsu lead him to the small cottage where she made her home. It was nestled beneath a cliff side, surrounded by trees of the deep forest. Kitsu's brightly colored, newly repaired orange ship—the Firebird, Meta Knight recalled its name as—sat under a high overhang, under the shelter of the cliff.

Kitsu bounded up the neat row of three steps up to the door of the cottage and opened it. She held it open for him as she smiled invitingly.

It was a tiny but very homey place to live. The front door entered into the living room, which had orange carpet, and a single large poka-dotted sofa. Yellow curtains adorned the large windows, letting in plenty of sunlight—which afforded a nice view of the forest and flooded the house with light, in this case, hurting Meta Knight's eyes. He glanced down, wondering if his newfound strange sensitivity to excess light and sound, combined with his recent behavior, were symptoms of utter insanity.

As if sensing his discomfort, Kitsu steered him past the living room and into the kitchen, where the brightly colored curtains were drawn. It could not be called dark, but the kitchen was much less outrageous in color schemes and gentler on Meta Knight's sore eyes. The floor was tiled white and black and the cabinets were all wood.

Kitsu gestured for him to sit at a quaint little table with four tiny chairs. The sweet smell of baked goods drifted across the room. Meta Knight felt his own sweet tooth stir and beg to be satisfied, but he felt rather nauseous and really did not want to eat anything.

Again, as though reading his mind, Kitsu did not cram cake down his throat like she usually would, but instead handed him a cup of hot tea.

"So," Kitsu said cheerily, as she sat down beside him with her own cup of tea. "What's wrong?"

Meta Knight stared at the tea, swirling the cup in his hands slightly. He shifted his mask to the side just a little, enough so that he could bring the rim of the cup to his mouth and take a long sip. When he had put the cup down and readjusted his mask, Meta Knight answered quietly.

"Nightmare." He said darkly, not making it clear whether he was talking about the term or the person. Kitsu took it as the person.

"Well yes, that guy seems to cause issues for everyone huh?" Kitsu munched on some chocolate thoughtfully. "And it seems he plans to do something major soon. I didn't expect you to literally go crazy because of it though…"

"Neither did I," muttered the knight.

"How long have you felt like this?"

"Since Krasus…" His golden eyes hardened. "Since _that_ spell."

"Hmm hmm~... It seems Nightmare wanted to take you down at that time, and not only attempt to get me. It's my fault. I should have expected there to be aftereffects in his spell. Hopefully, it will fade over time." Kitsu paused. "Krasus is still alive you know. He escaped."

"Kirby did not manage to defeat him?"

"Oh he was defeated alright. You won't see him bothering us anytime soon," The fox girl held up a hand and her baton popped into existence . "But dead, no. Besides, this thing wasn't made to kill."

"But he will be back one day, along with others."

Kitsu sighed, as she caused her wand to vanish again. "Mmh. Magic is an inert thing. Not even Nightmare can stuff it into demon beasts so easily. Krasus was one of his only successes, but I have a feeling that he's getting better…" Kitsu reclined on her chair. "Don't worry too much about it though. After I sensed Krasus's arrival, I set up wards around the perimeter of the village which will detect any more demon beasts immediately. So you shouldn't have to worry about anyone else ambushing you and casting mind-screwing stuff on you again~"

Kitsu practically sang the last sentence, her voice going off on her typical joyful lilt. Meta Knight looked away, still burning with shame for allowing echoes of the demon beast to haunt him so effectively.

She quieted for a moment. "Oh by the way, I suddenly remember something."

"What?"

"About _that_ time," Kitsu's voice dipped slightly and Meta Knight realized she was speaking of when she had nearly been killed years ago, only to turn up in her long-lost ship and crash on Popstar.

"Go on."

"It's not much but…" She hesitated. "A name. I recall a name."

"And that is…?"

"Galacta. Galacta Knight."

* * *

So yes. Meta Knight goes a little crazy in this chapter, but that's okay. Everyone has their inner craziness. ^.^';;

And yes, I am pulling Galacta Knight into this. Why not?

So yeah. Lots of random scenes once more clumped together. Sorry about that.

And if you didn't know, Kitsu was really missing initially during Krasus's attack because she was setting up forementioned wards. She lied to Fumu about baking cake because no one likes telling Fumu the snoop the truth. XD


	9. Chapter 8

I do not own anything in Kirby.

Chapter eight...fight scene here, so I suppose it's interesting enough. Hopefully.

* * *

A shadow flirted swiftly through the trees, so silently that a nearby owl did not even notice. It paused as it reached a clearing where the trees abruptly ended in fallen splinters and chopped up branches, like a tornado had punished just that small area. The figure chuckled darkly.

"Seems Meta Knight wasn't very happy yesterday, hm?" The gravelly voice grated suddenly against the night air, startling the owl into flight. The shadow snickered some more, before vanishing into the night.

In his chambers at the near top of the castle, Meta Knight awoke with a start from more half-remembered nightmares, the migraine having started up with a vengeance. He hissed in annoyance and lay back down in his bed, realizing this would be the third consecutive sleepless night in a row. Meta Knight groaned softly and with a weary sigh, began the now-familiar routine of staring at the ceiling, waiting for dawn. The Star Warrior lay there for several minutes, counting the cracks on the ceiling and making friends with shadows on the wall. After a moment, for no particular reason, he glanced over at his sword, propped stiffly against a nearby wall.

Galaxia seemed a paler hue than usual in the misty moonlight, the jewel on its hilt glinting in a rather paranoid manner, as if warning that something terrible was about to happen.

Meta Knight sighed again and pulled his pink blanket over his head, staying like that for the rest of the night.

* * *

"My wards were triggered yesterday night," Kitsu said cheerfully, as though that was good news.

"I see." Was the reply, in a low tone of voice as though the conversation was something classified and private, and not to be overheard by the wrong ears no matter what.

Kitsu expressed no such concern and continued brightly, in a regular conversational tone. "It was only once and very briefly, but I'm fairly sure it was someone sneaking in."

"Only once?" Meta Knight paused. "Then that means they are still here."

"Who could it be?" The fox girl mused happily, like she was eager to meet a new friend. Her energetically joyful and carefree aura contrasted sharply with Meta Knight's rather brooding and serious and sleep-deprived air.

Kitsu took a sip of her hot chocolate. Around them, Waddle Dees were enjoying the same beverages, as they sat around tables.

"What are you all doing?" A furious voice echoed through the large hall. Escargoon had h hands on his hips, as he attempted to look intimidating. "H-hot chocolate? What? What is this, _snack_ time? Well news flash, fellows. You don't get a break time here! Get back to work all of you!"

"But sir," Waddle Doo began, clutching his hot chocolate protectively. "It was Kitsu's idea—,"

"Back to work!" Escargoon turned, as he prepared to fire his wrath on the accused magician (who was ignoring him).

Obediently, the Waddle Dees put down their mugs and filed out the room to continue their duties, leaving Meta Knight and Kitsu the only ones remaining. Escargoon opened his mouth, trying to find words that would chasten and get those two moving as well. Meta Knight gave him a patient, inquisitive, almost amused look that dared him to give an order. Kitsu did not seem to notice the snail at all; she had her eyes closed as though savoring the taste of her beverage.

"Meta Knight and Kitsu," Escargoon sputtered. The knight tilted his head slightly, and Kitsu put her mug down to stare at him with unfaltering amber eyes that were so unnaturally joyful. The snail growled, puffing himself up. "Go do...whatever you were doing."

"Hmm hmm~?" Kitus got up—but it was only to refill her mug from a pot of fresh hot chocolate. At last, Escargoon seemed to realize it was utterly useless. He gave up, stomping away and went to report the insubordination to the king.

"Anyways," Meta Knight started up, as soon as the advisor was gone. "No matter what it was, we have to stay on our guard. Nightmare may very well be planning something extremely…" He trailed off, as he watched Kitsu stir her hot chocolate with a look of concentration on her face, obviously not listening to him at all. She paused when silence fell and glanced back at him.

"Did you say something?" She asked cheerily.

Meta Knight sighed, his armor clanking with him as his shoulders sagged.

* * *

"Poyo po!" Kirby laughed joyfully. The land was arranged in tiny neat squares far beneath him.

"Wheee!" Bun cried.

Kitsu giggled. She had Kirby's arm in one hand and Bun's in the other. Her enchanted wings of light flapped rapidly, easily bearing all three high on the sky. The wing blew gently, ruffling the fur of her hat and causing her earring to jingle. It was a cheerful early morning. The sun was shining warmly; the sky was a friendly and beautiful shade of azure. The birds were singing, the sheep gazed peacefully below them on green pastures, the weather was lovely, Kitsu's wards had been triggered again…

Kitsu's wards had been triggered again. The magician stiffened, but before she could react, the winds shifted suddenly.

Another breeze came, and then a heavy wind that almost tilted Kitsu in her flight. And then, out of absolutely nowhere, a storm cloud the color of midnight converged upon them, swooping in like a mile-long bird of prey.

"Holy cow!" Bun yelped.

"Wow that's a big storm cloud…" Kitsu said cheerily, seeming mesmerized by the patterns of ominous lightning that danced within the freak inclement weather.

"Look out!" An angry streak of lightning shot towards them.

"Hey hey watch it…" Kitsu dodged neatly. "Freakin' Krako…"

"Poyo!" Kirby said, narrowing his blue eyes. He had fought this demon beast long ago, when he was quite inexperienced. He had gotten shocked many times as a result.

"King DeDeDe must have summoned more demon beasts!" Bun's shouts melted into a scream of terror, as Kitsu went into a nosedive to avoid the lightning. As she was about to pull out of the dive, a shuriken flew by, narrowing missing Kirby's face.

"There you are, Star Warrior," A gravelly voice growled. A small figure clad in black stood on a cliff nearby, crimson eyes burning with hatred.

"Hey…it's Yamikage! So you're the visitor we had last night." Kitsu said, but in a voice full of delight. Her hand slipped from Kirby—the startled puffball fell a few feet before puffing himself up to hover—and she waved happily at him. "It's been a while, ne?"

"You…" The ninja looked startled. "So it's true…you are alive…"

"You don't look happy to see me either," She exclaimed in false hurt. "Everyone's just so unfriendly these days…"

"You're supposed to be dead." The words were a barbed accusation.

Kitsu made a sulky sound, as she dodged another lightning bolt, but her smile remained. "Hmm hmm~? So mean…"

"Kitsu!"

Yamikage turned, dark delight dancing in his eyes at the familiar voice. "So you've decided to join us as well, Meta Knight?"

The elder Star Warrior had Galaxia drawn. Sword and Blade were besides him.

"Why have you returned?"

The demon ninja smirked as he drew a kunai from his belt. "To see if the rumors are true, of course…and it seems they are. Kitsu lives…"

Bun dangled from Kitsu's hand, long forgotten, as the fox puffball attempted to glare at Yamikage indignantly. "Yes, I _live_. You don't have to say it like that…" Krako fired lightning again, forcing her to spin out of the way. Kirby had landed on the ground long ago and ran in circles as he desperately dodged the lightning demon's attacks as well.

The magician managed to land—the terrified Bun wrenching himself from her grip and racing away, overjoyed to be on solid ground again.

"Scatter," Meta Knight hissed, as a volley of electricity hurtled at them. Sword and Blade rushed in opposite directions, avoiding Kracko's attacks. Kitsu raised her baton and the spinning stick deflected said attacks.

"Poyo!" Kirby cried in panic, as he dodged away. He could not reach Krako without the Warp Star…where was Fumu when he needed her?

"Looking for someone?" Yamikage cackled. He shoved the girl, who was tied up and blindfolded, from behind him. Fumu attempted to speak past a gag, but all that came out were stifled angry sounds. Yamikage told her to shut up and then gave her a cruel kick to the backside, sending her rolling with a muffled scream, dangerously close to the cliff's edge. Before Fumu could attempt to rise, the ninja planted his foot right on her head, the malice glittering in his red eyes.

"_Nee-chan_!" Bun screamed in fury. "Let her go!"

"You coward," Meta Knight said, in a low and deadly tone, eyes flashing crimson. Sword and Blade echoed Bun's demand angrily, their weapons pointed.

"That's not very nice," Kitsu agreed. Kirby did not bother to make a comment; he charged forward recklessly, intent on rescuing his best friend. Kracko's lightning bolt sent him sprawling.

"Forgot to watch your back, didn't you?" The ninja sniggered. Kirby picked himself up, a look of rare genuine anger in his icy blue eyes.

"Are you going to intervene _this time_?" Kitsu asked the stoic knight besides her, a hint of rare sarcasm in her tone.

"Let's go," was the (rare) straightforward answer. Meta Knight raced forward, Kitsu beside him. Bun attempted to run after them, but he was stopped by Blade.

"Let me go!" The boy yelled, struggling angrily.

"You'll only get in the way," The green-clad knight said sternly, but not unkindly. Gradually Bun calmed down, as he and Meta Knight's apprentices ran under the cliff, where Krako's attacks could not reach them.

"Do not worry about Krako's attacks," Meta Knight was calling out to Kirby. "Concentrate on Yamikage. Kitsu…protect Kirby no matter what."

"_Hai._ I know." She smiled joyously and leapt forward, leaving his side to catch up to the young Star Warrior.

With that, Meta Knight threw Galaxia at the pink puff who inhaled it without hesitation.

As Galaxia Kirby charged towards the enemy, Kitsu stayed behind him to deflect all of Krako's attacks aimed at his back. The now weaponless Meta Knight skidded to a halt and stepped under the cliff overhang, to join his apprentices and Bun, where they were safe from the lightning.

Kirby shot from under the cliff, golden sword blazing. Swiftly, Yamikage drew his own short sword and dodged the vicious slash downwards. He easily parried all of Kirby's attacks, all with his foot remaining on Fumu's head. This served only to aggravate Kirby further, as he struggled to push the ninja back so he could free the girl.

"So even you can get angry," The demon ninja mused, smirking. Kirby glared as he leapt into the air. "_Sword Beam_!" The pink ball shouted as he launched said attack downwards. Casually, Yamikage ducked the wild glowing arc of energy, still having not moved at all.

Kirby aimed his landing to be right on top of the ninja, his blade slashing downwards once again. The ninja smirked and with his free hand reached down to take Fumu by the hair and raise her up in front of him as a shield. Kirby's eyes widened in horror. At the last moment, he turned Galaxia aside and avoided his friend; however this left his flank wide open and earned him a kick from the ninja that sent him hurtling off the cliff.

Luckily at that moment, Kitsu reached the top of the cliff herself, the wings on her hat glimmering. Her right hand still twirling the baton which neglected Krako's attacks, the magician caught Kirby with her other hand and set him back down.

"Don't lose your cool," Kitsu said calmly, as she took in Kirby's furious expression. "That's a basic in fighting. Even _I_ learned that." She paused and then laughed gently. "Wow soon I'll be sounding like Meta Knight when he's in Drill Sergeant Mode, too."

Kirby watched the magician hesitantly, before her aura of composure settled on him as well. Sharpened with renewed focus, Kirby feinted left with Galaxia and then swung at Yamikage. The demon beast attempted to use the struggling Fumu as a shield and distraction again, but this time Kirby was ready. He turned his blade so that it slashed, precisely, the wrist which held Fumu by the hair. Yamikage gave a startled yelp of pain and released the girl, his now injured hand recoiling. Quickly, the young Star Warrior advanced with his blade outstretched, forcing the ninja to finally retreat away. With Fumu secure and safe behind him, Kirby was finally able to fight completely unrestrained.

Yamikage put up a good defense, polished with countless years of experience, but he was getting beaten back easily by the genius young Star Warrior. The ninja, missing a beat in the rhythm of fighting, felt a stinging pain as Galaxia grazed his shoulder. He leapt back with a smoke bomb in hand, having had enough. However instead of cursing or snarling with defeat, Yamikage _laughed_.

"Like I said, you forgot to watch your back," He sniggered. Kirby glanced backwards, exchanging puzzled looks with Fumu and Kitsu. The former still had her baton spinning, easily deflecting Krako's increasingly frustrated attacks.

"You sure that's everyone? I think you're missing somebody." Before anyone could react to that ominous statement, the smoke bomb and thrown to the ground and the demon ninja was gone.

"Meta Knight-kyou and the others," Fumu said suddenly, her eyes wide. Kitsu leapt off the cliff and hovered over to an angle where she would have spotted the knight from where he should have been taking shelter. Bun, Sword, and Blade all lay there unconscious.

Meta Knight was gone.

* * *

Whee another cliff hanger. I might actually be getting good at this. XD

Or not. This chapter was too ridiculously short as well. My apologies once more.


	10. Chapter 9

I don't own Kirby.

This chapter kind of just drawls on too with description and stuff...sorry about that.

* * *

"It was a trap," Kitsu whispered hollowly, her smile absent. "They weren't after me…or Kirby."

"They wanted Meta Knight-kyou?" Fumu frantically asked, eyes wide with aggravation. "_Why_?"

The magician didn't answer that question. "Krasus got him. His nasty magic is all over the place," Even her baton bobbed with displeasure from where it hovered next to her head.

There were signs of a brief struggle. Three prints of impact on the cliff marked where Bun, Blade, and Sword had been slammed violently. A small bit of scorched cloth from a midnight blue cape lay on the ground. There was a scruff mark where a metal shoe might have dug in, and even a few scattered drops of glistening demon blood—suggesting Meta Knight had gone as far as to punch Krasus a few times, in self-defense. But in the end, without his Galaxia, it was evident and inevitable the valorous knight had lost his battle.

Kirby landed, hopping down from his Warp Star, Galaxia in hand, but the pointy green hat that marked his transformation gone. He had easily defeated Krako.

"Poyo?" Kirby asked worriedly, glancing around at the unconscious forms of Bun and the apprentices. He frowned as he saw who was missing. "Poyo? Poyo! _M-Meto_…_Nai…to_." The pink puff's infant tongue wrapped clumsily around the knight's name.

"He's gone. They took him," Fumu said blankly, the panic having not yet settled in. Kirby dropped Galaxia in horror. The blade hit the rocky ground with a mournful clang.

Kitsu knelt in a spot where the dirt had been stirred funny. "Krasus teleported out," She reported grimly. "He's probably already at Nightmare's base now." She sighed softly and glumly. "Meta Knight…"

There was dead silence, broken by the sound of Sword and Blade stirring at the sound of their lord's name.

"Are you two okay?" Fumu asked, checking them over for injuries.

"Meta Knight-kyou!" Sword shouted desperately, looking around. Gravely, the girl shook her head.

"Damnit! We failed him," Blade slammed his mailed fist angrily on the ground, waking Bun. The boy received the grim news as well.

"What do we do?" Bun asked in a whisper.

"Poyo poyo!" Kirby said angrily.

"Go after them?" Fumu did not even need to guess his meaning. "But it's too dangerous."

Kitsu rose and stretched slightly. The cheerful smile was magically back on her face. "Kirby's right. Why not? Who's up for raiding Nightmare's base?"

* * *

"It's…" Bun stuttered, at a complete loss for words.

"Poyo," Kirby supplemented, awe shining in his blue eyes.

"Amazing," Fumu managed, after a few moments of struggling for a word. The majestic battleship in front of them was just as large, if not larger than DeDeDe's castle. Shining with newly polished metal, brilliant purple-caped plates decorated it, serving as additional armor. A large turret hummed on the upmost center level of the middle, surrounded by additional guns. The neck of the ship extended outwards and ended at an oversized, most curious replication of Meta Knight's mask.

They were in what seemed like a massive underground garage. Even the giant warship in front of them left plenty of space to the ceiling.

"The Halberd," Sword said softly. "We've aided Meta Knight-kyou in building it secretly for the day we would strike back at Nightmare. I never imagined that we would have to use this to rescue him…"

"Come on," Blade said, averting his eyes from the ship's front and the reminder of the missing knight. As they boarded the massive battleship in a single file, Bun spotted the same bright orange vessel that Kitsu had arrived on. It was docked on top of the Halberd like a koala on its mother.

"Is that your ship?" He asked the owner. She nodded.

"I built the Firebird a while ago," Kitsu said, a hint of nostalgia entering her voice. She giggled and said in mock resentment, "Meta Knight _so_ stole my design for the weaponry placement."

Like the Halberd—or rather vice versa, if what Kitsu claimed was true—the Firebird had a larger central turret on its back, with smaller lasers cocked at the sides. It had been fully repaired since its unfortunate encounter with the ground from a great height; the front of the vessel was shaped like a bird's beak, the tinted glass of the cockpit blazing like furious eyes. There were ridges on the wings where boosters were sheathed, looking like sharp metal feathers. Designs shone brilliantly; there was a yellow star insignia on the right wing and what looked like a running fox design on the other.

Bun tried to decide which ship was "better", but then realized they weren't in the same category to be compared. The Halberd was a giant, invincible star-destroying behemoth while the Firebird was a stealth cruiser, built for light, dodgy combat at most.

With everyone on board, the hatch that served as the entrance to the Halberd lowered slowly with a _vroom_. Suddenly, there was rather dull thud, as if something heavy had landed on the rooftop.

"What was that?" Bun asked nervously. Sword and Blade exchanged looks, their hands creeping to the hilts of their swords.

A clear voice rang out. "Not so fast! You aren't going without us!"

Startled, Blade's hand lifted from the lever which was closing the door and the metal structure halted in its lowering.

"We heard Meta Knight got himself kidnapped," A different, confident voice laughed. "We wanna help you bust him out, too."

"That…" Fumu recognized the tone immediately. "Knuckle Joe?"

"Joe!" Kirby echoed in delight.

The laughter rang out. "The one and only."

"I hope you don't mind that we squeeze another ship on board," A familiar female's voice said—that was the first voice.

"Silica? You're here too?"

"We will rescue Meta Knight-kyou no matter what!"

Even Bun would recognize the third voice. "Dakonyo-san!"

Blade's hand pressed the lever the other way and the metal hatch rose, revealing the three.

The old soldier gave them a salute which Kirby mirrored cheerfully.

Silicia flashed them a grin. "I left my spaceship on your roof by the way. Next to that other one that's already there. Are we ready to leave?"

"How did you get in here?" Sword murmured, befuddled.

"We have our ways," Knuckle Joe said with a smirk as he rubbed his nonexistent nose. He glanced at Kitsu. "Who're you?"

"No one~," The magician sang cheerfully, as she munched on chocolate she had gotten from who-knows-where. The fighter gave her a suspicious look as Dakonyo gave a gasp of shock.

"Kitsu-sama!" He cried reverently, like he was addressing a goddess.

"Don't call me that!" Kitsu cried in the same tone of voice, only with her customary cat-like smile.

"My lady, we thought you were lost!"

"I did get lost!" She laughed. "But now I am found. Isn't that great? Have some chocolate!"

She broke a piece off from her candy bar and aimed it expertly at the old soldier's mouth.

Blade shook his head briefly as his hand pushed down on the lever once more, closing the door completely. He pressed another button and there were metallic whirling noises, like a large platform was being lowered. Bun craned his head out a window and saw the orange tip of the Firebird slowly dip out of sight, like it was being withdrawn into the depths of the ship it was parked on. The same thing was happening to a silver ship next to it.

"Poyo," said Kirby, in fascination, his face pressed to a window.

"Preparing for takeoff," Sword sighed, trying not to look at the empty spot where the captain of the Halberd would be standing. The ceiling to the massive garage abruptly opened and moonlight seeped in. The night sky twinkled far above, the stars glistening like tiny lanterns. Soon they would be among those stars, Fumu realized. Her heart fluttered like a small bird within her and the weight of Kirby's shrunken Warp Star, which she had brought and kept in her pocket, felt quite heavy.

"Engaging engine."

There was a loud roar that settled into a low purr as the floor vibrated slightly. Gradually, the ship began to rise.

"Don't activate the boosters until we're high enough," Sword called to the ship's other operator. "We don't need to wake anyone up in the town up, and have questions asked."

"Yeah."

"Won't we be missed in the morning anyways though?" Fumu asked, removing her hand from the Warp Star. Kirby's source of power felt rather warm in her pocket.

"Hopefully, we'll be back by then with Meta Knight-kyou. If we're later…then, we'll make up some sort of excuse." Sword did not bother to state what would happen should they not return.

The hole in the ground which marked the entrance to the secret garage closed. Soon it had vanished, like it had never been. The town shrunk and shrunk until the buildings were like tiny toys far below. Soon the clouds obstructed any view of the ground.

"Activating boosters."

With that, there was a brief metallic snarl as said structures unfolded into position and the Halberd rushed into space. Seats then popped from the ground, out of nowhere.

"Sit and buckle up," Blade instructed, as he demonstrated. "We're going into hyperdrive."

Everyone obeyed, except for Kitsu who stood calmly, watching a distant planet shimmer from the window. Hesitantly, Fumu called her name.

"Hmm~?" The magician didn't turn. "I'm fine. You can start."

The knight apprentices did not contest with her, and so Fumu relented.

"Activating hyperdrive," Blade reported as he pressed a large button with his entire fist. The Halberd made a long whining noise as it shuddered as though bracing itself, like a horse about to charge into an iron wall. And then the black space speckled with stars outside vanished into a whirling rainbow of colors. A massive force pressed down on the passengers as space itself seemed to part aside for the ship to shoot through. The heaviness of the air forced Fumu's head down, as she gritted her teeth, breathing suddenly becoming rather uncomfortable. Kitsu merely remained in the same position, seeming completely unbothered.

Just as abruptly, the force vanished as the ship skidded to a halt. The force jerked Fumu in her seat and would have set her hurtling outwards if not for the firm buckles secured around her body. The window outside was completely dark, not even a single star illuminating the pitch black void. Fumu wondered if they had made a mistake and instead warped into the interior of a black hole.

"We're here," Blade said, showing no sign of strain in his voice as the seatbelts released him.

"From here we go in the smaller ships," Sword interjected. "The Halberd is powerful and our shields could probably easily last even against an army of enemy ships. But they probably already know we're coming after Meta Knight. It'll be easier to pull off a surprise attack. The Firebird especially is built so it's almost impossible to detect."

"It is?" Kitsu asked, a decidedly fake blank smile on her face.

Sword ignored her and continued. "We've parked behind a nearby planet's moon. Its shadow is completely eclipsing us from the nearest sun—the Halberd won't be found that way." There was a pause. "I suppose we split up now."

The Firebird was slightly larger than Silica's ship. Kitsu, Kirby, Fumu, Bun, and Dakonyo boarded the orange fighter while Silica, Sword, Blade and Joe climbed into the silver vessel. Metallic grumbling sounded as platforms lifted the two ships outside so they sat once more on the Halberd's rooftop.

As soon as she sat down on the pilot's chair in the cockpit, Kitsu seemed to perk up even further. "Wow I haven't flown this thing properly for a long time," She chuckled. "I might have forgotten how!"

"Forgotten how?" Fumu asked nervously. The others in the ship, did not seem to be concerned over the statement though.

"Hmm hmm~," The magician hummed cheerfully as she flipped some switches. "Preparing for takeoff. And here we go."

The engine murmured into life, more of a soft sigh rather than the louder growling of the Halberd's engine. With ease, the Firebird smoothly lifted from its mothership and took off, followed closely by its silver companion.

Sword's voice sounded over the crystal-clear communication system. "We should be drawing near. They do have radar, so cloak yourself."

Kitsu tilted her head as though curious at what that might mean and for a moment Fumu feared that she would not do it, thus exposing them to Nightmare. However, just as quickly, the magician tapped a button flippantly. A small screen read "CLOAK MODE ON", and the engines settled down into near silence.

They rounded the bend of the moon which hid the Halberd, revealing the massive floating base of Holy Nightmare. It looked like something out of a 3-D video game. Gleaming buildings lay in strange rows like some sort of block puzzle, a huge single expansive city the size of a planet, in the middle of space.

"Holy cow…" Bun whispered.

"Holy Nightmare," His sister corrected.

"Poyo…"

A small siren sounded exactly twice and the same screen which flashed their status of cloak mode suddenly read "ENEMY SHIP DETECTED. IDENTIFY?"

Fumu and Bun gasped.

"Yes please," Kitsu said cheerily, as if talking to her ship. The screen shifted as though in response. "IDENTIFYING…ENEMY SHIP AHEAD. IDENTITY: DESTRAYER, MODEL A-34."

"Destrayers huh," The fox puffball mused. Sword's half-panicked voice cried out. "Destrayers ahead!"

"Hmm hmm~"

"We won't be able to take them! The Halberd would, but my ship's too light," Silica shouted.

"You're cloaked, aren't you?" Kitsu pointed out, calmly.

"They're the newest model and are sure to be equipped with the latest detectors. They'll probably…"

Suddenly, a green-blue laser streaked past the Firebird and hit the silver vessel, rocking it violently.

"Poyo!" cried Kirby in alarm.

"We're hit!" Sirens from the other ship sounded over the communication system. "We won't be able to put up a fight against them!"

"Damn them!" Knuckle Joe snarled.

"How many?" Daknonyo yelled.

"Five!"

"We're retreating!" Sword cried out. "Back to the Halberd. We have no choice but to break in with brute force."

"You do that," Kitsu said cheerfully, as she steered the Firebird gently, to avoid a few laser bursts. "We'll go on ahead."

The massive disk-shaped warships flew past them, chasing after the battered silver vessel. The Firebird glided smoothly between them in the other direction, but it was completely unnoticed. For a ship painted such an outrageous and noticeable color, Fumu thought, it had extremely sophisticated stealth mechanisms.

"Is it okay to leave them like that?" Bun asked, concerned.

"The Halberd can easily wipe out five measly Destrayers," was Kitsu's airy reply. "The problem is if its swarmed by _all_ of Nightmare's battleships…which is a lot. Then it'll probably be struck down." All of this was said in such a calm, matter-a-factly tone of voice that Fumu wondered not for the first time, if the medic had any fear at all. "Meta Knight will be angry we trashed his ship, but the point is to rescue him, and they've just provided us with a good diversion."

As she said all of this, more Destrayers streaked past. The alarm had been raised in Holy Nightmare. Already the dull sounds of massive structures exploding and lasers firing could be heard behind them. The others had evidently made it safely back to Meta Knight's battleship and begun plowing through the enemies.

Expertly, Kitsu guided the Firebird downwards into the strange artificial metropolis. Massive cannons had been unfolded from the top of some of the buildings. They fired angrily into space at the approaching Halberd.

The small orange cruiser tilted placidly into a long tunnel without any trouble. It glided downwards past many levels before touching down on…a landing pad.

"Are you seriously putting the ship in the middle of a ship _hangar_?" Fumu asked in disbelief at the simplicity of the magician's thoughts. "It'll be found in no time!"

Kitsu shrugged cheerfully. "You know what they say. To hide a tree, put it in a forest."

Fumu looked outwards and found a multitude of similarly-sized vessels parked around them. The Firebird, even as brightly colored as it was, blended in perfectly as just another denizen of the parking lot. Kitsu stood up from her seat and stretched briefly before pressing a button which caused the roof of the cockpit to slide open and a metal ladder to be lowered.

She climbed halfway up before turning back, amber eyes twinkling. "Well? Coming?"

* * *

Boring chapter. Sorry about that.

Why did I pull the typical and overused Meta-Knight-gets-kidnapped! storyline? Well, it's certainly the fastest way to speed a story into its climax and stuff like that.

So here we are. Fun stuff.

Meta Knight returns in the next chapter for those of you suffering from seperation anxiety for him. XD


	11. Chapter 10

I don't own Kirby.

...are my disclaimers getting boring now? XD

So here we are. I've filled this chap with lots of action, so action fans can be happy and stuff.

Meta Knight reappears...

So yeah. Please enjoy.

* * *

"Wouldn't that kind of ruin the point of sneaking here though?" Bun asked blankly.

"Not really," The magician replied, smiling. "Nightmare will allow the Halberd to land, thinking Kirby and I are on it. Then he'll blow it up to destroy our supposed only escape route and send in demon beasts to kill off the people he doesn't care about so he can face Kirby himself—so he can have the satisfaction of destroying the last Star Warrior."

There was a grim silence at her blunt words—said in an unfittingly cheerful manner—broken only by Kirby's delighted "poyo!" at the mention of his name.

"You sound pretty sure of this…" Fumu said quietly to the medic.

Kitsu laughed. "Nightmare works in a pretty simple way actually. It doesn't take long to figure out what he does."

"So," Dakonyo began. "You're suggesting we wait until the others land and then join them in a wild rampage across Holy Nightmare?"

She nodded eagerly. "Holy Nightmare's quite a large place and we aren't going to be able to find one person here no matter how hard we try. The more ruckus we make, the sooner Nightmare's going to come himself. Then we'll figure out where Meta Knight is, go fetch him and escape via the Firebird. Because the Halberd is almost certainly not going to make it." She said the last phase in a hushed manner, glancing around as if fearful of the doomed ship's vengeful owner.

Just then a large explosion rocked the upper levels of the parking lot they stood on.

"Oh! Sounds like they've landed," Kitsu exclaimed happily. "Let's go~!"

She skipped off as though making a journey to a picnic, Kirby following radiating a similar aura of joy. Bun and Dakonyo exchanged a look before following at a serene pace, leaving Fumu the only one who seemed to be worried about anything. She let out a heavy sigh, at the behavior of her companions whom she would never understand. "I miss you, Meta Knight-kyou. You were the only sane one."

* * *

"You guys okay?" Asked Silica, upon their reunion.

"We should be asking that of you," Fumu retorted. "That was really dangerous!"

The bandana girl merely grinned, the shells spewing from her machine gun as she fired wildly at the approaching swarm of demon beasts. The little ones fell over first, bloodied bodies riddled with bullets. Silica switched over to the flamethrower mode of her weapon next, burning the larger demons to a crisp. Her smile widened into a savage smirk that frightened Fumu enough to look away.

"Vulcan Jab! Vulcan Jab! Spin Kick!" Knuckle Joe crowed as he blasted enemies aside. "Smash Punch! Spin Kick!"

Sword and Blade wasted no words, slashing apart demon beasts with practiced ease. Dakonyo wielded a sword as well, waving it wrathfully as he attacked with more furious retribution than the others combined. Even Bun swung a wooden club, laughing in delight as he reveled in the power of taking down foes.

"Come on, Kirby." Sickened at the display of violence, Fumu turned and murmured to the pink ball who had not yet joined the battle. "Let's go look for Meta Knight-kyou."

Kirby looked up from where he had been gazing into the shimmering golden blade of Galaxia. He had brought it along and now held it in a wistful way that held great yearning for the comfort of his mentor.

"Let's go, Kirby," Fumu repeated, gently.

The Star Warrior nodded solemnly. Kitsu leapt out of nowhere, joining them as they went down a more empty corridor. They came to a fork.

"Which way?" Fumu asked, looking cautiously down each of the identical metal corridors.

"We could flip a coin," Kitsu suggested humorously.

"Very funny," The girl returned. "I say right."

"Poyo!" Kirby said, pointing left.

"Why left?"

"Poyo," was the reply. Fumu stared uncomprehending at the pink ball and glanced at Kitsu, who wore a cheerful smile that did not necessarily signal that she understood Kirby any better.

"Alright. Left it is," said Fumu, deciding to trust the young Star Warrior's judgment. The threesome turned in said direction and began walking.

They came into a widened chamber. The polished tiled floor, ceiling, and walls were all a shiny metal-like grey. Strangely, everywhere Fumu looked, there were racks. Attached on the walls, standing on the floor, even hung from the ceiling…shiny silver metal racks full of one thing: swords. Some of them were the standard katana. Others came in all sorts of exotic shapes and lengths and colors. Curved, straight, short, long. Some were like giant versions of a meat cleaver or a large tooth-edged saw—others were elegantly forged scimitars. There were claymores, sabers, rapiers, foils—double-handed swords, single-handed swords, double-edged, single edged, shaped like an elongated needle, or studded with spikes on the sides like on Galaxia. Some were decorated elegantly with jewels, some had plain wooden crossguards. Some shimmered of the finest, newly polished steel, while others were flaking with rust.

All of the swords and the racks were arranged in evenly spaced rows. That, combined with the slightly oval shape of the chamber that had many high and low levels and platforms around it, made the entire place feel like a battle arena of some sort. Fumu shuddered. Wanting to leave as soon as possible, she opened her mouth, only to see both Kirby and Kitsu staring purposefully upwards.

"Looks like the path Kirby chose was correct~," The magician sang, serenely drawing out her wand.

Suddenly the way they had come was closed by a huge and thick metal door, trapping the three of them in the large chamber. Fumu glanced back, a cry of alarm forming on her lips.

A half-shadowed figure glared down at them from a platform above.

"Hello there, Meta Knight," Kitsu greeted, cheerfully waving. "Still retaining your habit of appearing in the most absurd high places, huh?"

There was no reply. Meta Knight's metal shoes clanked dully against the floor as he emerged into full view. Fumu gasped in horror and drew back.

The knight's normally gentle golden eyes simmered a hideous crimson, burning dully beneath his visor like a pair of stoked coals. His cape was absent; in its place was a pair of bat-like wings which extended outwards in an intimidating fashion. He was weaponless, but still radiated a chilling, deadly aura that Fumu had never felt from him.

"M…Meta Knight-kyou?" She whispered, refusing to believe it was him.

"Poyo! Poyo," Kirby pleaded, begging for the knight to return. Again, no answer.

Loud, harsh, grating laughter echoed in the cold arena-like chamber. A dark half-visible figure appeared besides Meta Knight.

"Welcome, welcome," The voice chuckled maliciously. "Welcome to my humble abode."

"Nightmare," Kitsu said, an extremely rare hint of anger in her voice.

"If it isn't Kitsu," The conqueror of much of the universe said mockingly. "I knew you would all come. Well here's the person you were looking for huh? Ah Meta Knight…I always found him to be the greatest enemy of all, you know. A bigger threat than Sir Arthur, or Garlude, or any of the others. You'd find that he's changed a little bit since his stay here. Don't worry though. I'm sure you will all have fun."

The mocking laughter echoed even louder as the shadow stepped back slightly, to watch the show.

"Meta Knight-kyou!" Fumu cried out again, desperately wishing that he could snap out of it.

The red eyes stared past her coldly, gazing upon Kirby blankly. Abruptly the knight reached forward to a nearby metal rack and drew a long thin rapier from it. He gave it a few experimental flicks in the air. Apparently, he was not pleased for he lowered it as if to put it back.

Fumu did not even see the throwing motion Meta Knight made, but nonetheless the rapier had been thrown straight at them like a javelin. It cut through the air with frightening accuracy. Kirby dodged aside, eyes wide, while Kitsu pulled Fumu away. The sword pinned itself to a far wall, its blade sinking halfway into the tiles.

"Poyo…" Kirby whispered brokenly, realizing that something was indeed very wrong with Meta Knight. Why was he attacking them? And why did he radiate such a frightening aura?

Meta Knight already had another sword drawn from the rack. It was a large and bulky one and he was obviously unimpressed by this one as well. Kirby let out a startled yelp and rolled out of the way as it was hurled at him.

The knight slid a third blade out. It was a short sword, plain and mostly unadorned but about the same size and length as Galaxia. He weighed it in his hand, twirled it about expertly and gave a spiteful nod before suddenly launching himself off the platform. His wings flicked open and he shot at Kirby like a bullet. The pink ball barely had a chance to lift Galaxia to deflect the blow. The strength behind the sword strike, however, still sent the younger Star Warrior flying.

Fumu watched, mortified, as the knight began hacking viciously at Kirby. Kitsu watched, a half-interested expression on her face. Fumu yelled at her furiously to go help Kirby, but the magician seemed to be entranced by something in the far distance.

Nightmare's laughter echoed loudly in the background.

Kirby was struck several times, slammed on the floor. He was knocked back many feet and smashed into the wall where he gazed up, eyes full of misery. What had Nightmare done to his mentor?

Meta Knight stepped forward slowly, red eyes blank and burning with hatred.

"Poyo!"

There was no recognition in those eyes. The knight almost stepped on something. It was Galaxia, which had slipped from Kirby's grip. Meta Knight's eyes gleamed now, like a hungry wolf that had finally found a way to finish off its prey. He stabbed his rental sword into the ground and reached down to grab Galaxia.

Nightmare howled with mockery. "Ahahahah there we are…with Galaxia, Meta Knight is unbeatable. How will you defeat him now?"

"Poyo!" Kirby wailed and cowered back as Meta Knight lifted the golden blade above his head and prepared to bring it down upon his student.

Suddenly, the sacred sword burst into golden electricity which engulfed the knight's body. Meta Knight let out a hiss of surprise and pain as he was forced to release Galaxia. The blade clattered to the floor.

Nightmare let out a growl of annoyance. "I see. Meta Knight made it so that he could only wield Galaxia on the condition that his heart is his own. Otherwise it would reject him just like it would anyone else. Rather clever of him…but no matter. Kirby, prepare to die by your own teacher's hand!" Nightmare returned to cackling in the most evil fashion.

Kitsu made an odd noise, next to Fumu, and she realized the magician was _snickering._

"Have you gone crazy?" Fumu hissed. "Go attack Nightmare! He's the one controlling Meta Knight-kyou, right?"

"Hmm~? Me? Attack who? I'm just the medic," Kitsu replied airily as thought distracted by something of much more importance. Fumu thought frantically of a way to escape this desperate situation. She had kicked the metal door that trapped them several times but it was absolutely no use. Perhaps Kirby could…but no. Kirby was in no was in position as of now, to help her destroy a door.

Meta Knight glared at the rebellious golden sword that had dared to bite its master—but instead of attempting to pick up Galaxia again, he stepped back and took the borrowed short sword up once more. He lifted it high, intending to end Kirby's life with that blade instead.

"_Kirby! _Inhale Galaxia!" Fumu screamed desperately. To her relief, the pink puff obeyed and swept Meta Knight's sword up in a huff.

When Kirby had landed from his transformation-induced twirl in the air, the pointy green hat was in place on his head and he held Galaxia in a tight and much more firm grip. Meta Knight lunged with his short sword, but with just as much skill, Kirby parried the blow. The two blades clashed, ringing out in high pure voices, all with Nightmare's grating laughter cheering them on in the background.

Fumu desperately wished that that guy would just shut up.

Back and forth, Kirby and Meta Knight danced in their deadly battle, swords flashing with unparalleled skill. As the knight slashed with his right hand, his left reached out and snatched up a sharp saber which lacked a crossguard, and looked like it was carved out of ornately chiseled bone. Meta Knight flung the weapon at Kirby who had to turn aside to dodge it. Taking advantage of the opening, the elder Star Warrior surged forward with renewed ferocity. Kirby leaped back several paces and returned the gesture by sucking up a claymore from the same metal rack and spitting it back out at his opponent. Meta Knight, however, easily deflected the impromptu projectile with his sword.

The speed of their combat only increased from there. The two twirled about in a deadlock, clashing at a rapid steady beat, retreating and advancing, hopping about the platforms, and occasionally tossing swords from the numerous racks at each other.

Kitsu appeared to have her eyes closed and was murmuring something under her breath and Fumu had to wonder if Nightmare had taken control of _her_ as well.

"Poyo!" Kirby said, steel in his voice as he feinted right. As he expected, Meta Knight anticipated the fake and already had his sword up to block the incoming left swipe. However, Kirby continued right, lunging and scoring a solid hit on Meta Knight. It was a blow to the side of his head, by the flat of Galaxia, but it was enough to send the knight reeling back, stunned. Meta Knight fell backwards, red eyes flickering with disorientation, grip on his weapon loosening.

"Finish him!" Nightmare crowed, obviously enjoying the death match very much.

Kirby hesitated, sword arm trembling from exertion and sorrow and terror at the prospect of being possibly forced to kill Meta Knight. Already the elder Star Warrior was recovering from the hit. He sat up, shaking his head briefly, focus returning to his crimson eyes.

"Just hit him again already," Kitsu called cheerfully. Immediately Fumu leapt away from her. So the magician _had_ become controlled by Nightmare, too!

Kirby gave her a look of utmost disbelief.

"It's okay," Kitsu said, smiling. "Go on. Smack him a few times. I'll just fix any damage you do."

Right on cue, Meta Knight picked up his sword again and charged at Kirby. The pink ball flinched backwards and lashed out with Galaxia. The sword's blade grazed the knight's arm, and the first blood of the battle was drawn. Kirby drew back at the sight, horrified at what he had done. Meta Knight glanced at the small wound dismissively before raising his blade to attack once more.

Kirby squeaked as the sword missed him by a hair's length. He was forced to lift Galaxia to defend himself, but the knight's attacks were as strong and fast as ever while Kirby was exhausted and faltering. He was breathing hard and his footwork was getting increasingly sluggish. Panic was starting to show in the pink ball's eyes.

"On the head," Kitsu called evenly. "Get him on the head."

"What's wrong with you?" Fumu demanded furiously. The magician did not reply to that and merely hummed to herself an odd tune.

Kirby let out a small distressed sound at Kitsu's instructions, but could not spare a second to look back at her. He ducked under his foe's swing and sliced hesitantly at the knight's mask. The weak blow bounced harmlessly off the protective metal but it seemed to crush something on the side of it. A short burst of electricity fizzled and a small cube-shaped thing surrounded with ripped wires fell out. Just then, Nightmare's laughter turned into a howl of fury as his already half-visible image seemed to flicker further and then vanish. Fumu realized that he had been nothing more than a hologram.

The metal door that Fumu had been trying so hard to get open lifted up, revealing their escape passage.

"Yay an escape route!" Kitsu cried with delight, as though it was a great surprise to her as well. "Let's run awaaaay!"

With that, the magician turned and began skipping towards the exit. Fumu called Kirby's name and the weary pink ball turned and hurried after them. There were rapid wing beats, signaling Meta Knight's pursuit.

They rushed through the many corridors, footsteps echoing loudly. After many minutes of running, Kirby's pace slackened even further, the exhaustion showing plainly in the small Star Warrior's face. He stopped, panting and gave Fumu a hopeless look. Galaxia drooped in his grip.

"We have to keep running," The girl urged Kirby. "Don't give up!"

"Poyo," Kirby said with sorrowful desolation.

"Actually, we're good," Kitsu cut in brightly. She pointed ahead, where Sword and Blade were rushing towards them.

"Where were you guys?" Sword demanded, armor clanking. "We were looking all over for y—Meta Knight-kyou?"

Blade took an alarmed step backwards at the bat wings—spread wide and imposing like a massive owl—and the furious smoldering red eyes. Meta Knight hovered in the air for a few more moments before landing on the ground and folding his wings lightly on his back. He pointed his short sword at them threateningly, obviously about to launch another attack.

"Nightmare did something to him! He's attacking us!" Fumu cried to the two apprentice knights. Neither seemed to be listening, though. They raised their swords purposefully and stepped between Fumu, Kirby, and Kitsu, and their lord.

"Meta Knight-kyou," Blade said softly, pleadingly. The knight, of course, offered no reply other than charging forward with his weapon raised. The two apprentices surged forward to engage him grimly, the anxiety and half-heartedness evident in their movements. Soon the clashing of blades echoed through the hall.

"Come on," Fumu said, tugging on Kirby's hand. "Let's go."

"If we leave them like this, Meta Knight will kill them both in no time," Kitsu said calmly. She tilted her head thoughtfully and then made such an exaggerated I-have-an-idea gesture, that Fumu could practically see the lightbulb floating above her head.

"Let's take a trip, Kirby," The medic said to the pink ball, happily. In the background, Meta Knight was beating his two apprentices back easily. They were forced to retreat, clumsily defending themselves from their much more skilled master.

"Poyo?" Kirby asked blankly to Kitsu's suggestion.

"Yep! Meta Knight is fond of you, right? You might be able to get through to him, whereas I couldn't." Kitsu nodded thoughtfully to herself and Fumu realized with guilt that she had been so unresponsive during the last battle because she had been attempting to break whatever curse was on Meta Knight.

"Well? You up for some traveling?" Kitsu asked with an ardent grin, holding up her baton. Kirby hesitated, unsure what she meant, but nodded nonetheless.

Blade was suddenly knocked into the wall by Meta Knight. He slumped down, sword slipping from his grip. The other apprentice knight charged, but Meta Knight dispatched of Sword just as easily. Sword fell forward, helmet hitting the floor with a solid clunk. Meta Knight paused then, looking between the two of them, as if wondering which to finish off first.

"Wait," Fumu began. "Where are you going…?"

"Nowhere in particular," The fox puffball said cheerily.

Meta Knight had evidently made his decision and he stood, sword poised above Blade's unmoving form. His arm swung downwards, weapon aiming for the gap between Blade's helmet and his plate armor, about to sever the apprentice's head cleanly from his body—as Kitsu waved her wand in a sweeping gesture at him, Kirby watching, mesmerized.

"Poyo?" Kirby yelped, as the floor seemed to disappear from beneath his large red feet. "Poyooooooo!" He wailed as he started to fall towards a bottomless pit that had appeared from nowhere. The world around him was vanishing, too, the metallic walls and Fumu next to him disappearing into blurs of black. The almost painful panic rose up in Kirby like pressurized molten soda, threatening to burst.

"Wheeeee~!" He turned with relief to see that Kitsu was falling along with him. She had her wand in hand and twirled it playfully as she giggled in enjoyment of the freefall.

Her carefree aura was contagious and soon Kirby was laughing with delight along with her, as they fell down into utter darkness.

"Poyo po?" The pink ball inquired, wanting to know where they were going. Kitsu answered, this time.

"Into the dark and twisted mind of Meta Knight-kyou," Kitsu said with a grin, tacking on the honorific at the end of his name in the most cheerfully sarcastic manner.

They fell into the blackness below.

* * *

So let's take a trip into Meta Knight's head. This will be fun.

Next chapter soon and stuff. :3


	12. Chapter 11

I don't own Kirby.

So yes. More angst and depression from Meta Knight. Have fun. XD

* * *

A small detached part of Meta Knight could not believe that he was in this position _again._ It was even worse than last time…if that was even possible. That was because unlike the first incident, this time Meta Knight did not have delirium and random memories of the past distracting him from what was important. He was perfectly in sync with his own body—he could move, and was moving and walking and swinging a sword around. His mind wasn't clouded. It was clear with malicious thoughts and he was quite acutely aware of everything he was doing. And he was enjoying it with a kind of sadistic hatred.

Hatred burned within him like a hot flame, searing his insides like a clawing animal. It wiped away all opposition from himself, morphing his thoughts into that of a raging maniac. Except now he wasn't taking his unprovoked anger out on trees. He swung his sword feverishly at a living opponent in front of him, a small pink puffball whom he thought looked quite familiar, but he couldn't figure out why. Why was he attacking this pink ball? But then, did he need a reason? Did reason exist at all? Perhaps it didn't.

Nightmare had said something about reason as he had Meta Knight buffeted by Krasus's magic for his entire stay there. Then again, he had said many things, some of which made sense, and others that didn't.

"What is loyalty? What is honor?" His enemy had whispered over and over again to the semiconscious knight. "Why do you need it? Why not just let your inner darkness loose? You'll feel better that way, I promise you. The pain will stop. Don't you want the pain to stop?

Of course he wanted the pain to stop, Meta Knight had wanted to retort. But for some reason he had forgotten through the torture, the knight sensed that he was not allowed to give in to his tormenter's advice.

So he endured it as long as he could, as the world spun farther and farther from his grasp.

"My lord, if we continue, there may be permanent damage to his mind. He's already vulnerable because of a spell I cast last time. This time, he may be driven insane entirely."

The cruel voice had snickered briefly before answering. "That's fine, Krasus. I don't mind insane."

And finally, Meta Knight did not know who he was or what he was doing anymore. All he had left was the Voice in his head, advising him to kill, and the hatred burning as a raging inferno within him.

The detached part of him, separate from the main entity that was the now completely maddened Meta Knight, wondered vaguely where on earth the knight had managed to glean so much simple pure negative emotion. Any normal person would be drained just from getting angry up to that point.

_It's because you brood too much, _that isolated part of Meta Knight could practically hear Kitsu saying. _You just have everything pent-up inside. It's not very good for your health._

The imaginary Kitsu wagged her finger at him, shaking her head in mock disapproval.

_Kill them all._

The Voice was just as redundant as ever, but this time its suggestions had power. Meta Knight obeyed the lull of its sound, thirsting desperately for blood and gore. He needed to kill—to rip, to rend, to tear; to exact revenge on everyone for…for doing what?

_Existing, _The Voice filled in neatly, the silky seductive purr echoing in his tormented mind. _They shouldn't exist at all. No one should exist for any purpose…except to be killed by you._

That was right. No one should exist except to be killed by Meta Knight. He liked the sound of that and the phrase repeated itself several times like a twisted mantra.

Yet the question continued to echo. Exacting revenge…why? Why was he doing this again?

The Voice quickly intervened, this time with a different reason. _They killed your friends. They killed everyone that was dear to you. That's why you have to kill them back. It's only right that you wreck revenge on them._

Who? Who killed his friends?

...Who were his friends?

And then it came pouring in. More images of Garlude dying, and Jecra dying. More sounds of bloody gory battle and screams and death and loss. _Whose fault was it? _Meta Knight wanted to know, angrily. Who did he have to kill to compensate?

The Voice gave him the answer, same as the last one. _Everyone_.

Meta Knight reveled in his own blood-stained memories and closed his eyes, savoring the screams.

* * *

"Poyo?" Kirby asked, shuddering slightly. After what seemed like an eternity and a millisecond at the same time, he and Kitsu had landed on something solid. It wasn't the ground—the ground was absent. They were standing on pitch black, an abyss below them, an abyss above them, and an abyss surrounding them. Despite the complete darkness, Kirby could see himself and Kitsu perfectly.

He looked around puzzled. "Poyo?"

_Where are we?_

"This way," Kitsu said calmly. She began walking in what seemed to be a random direction and Kirby hurried to catch up, fearful of being left all alone in the dark. They plodded along for a while, gradually getting used to the dizzying sensation of walking on nothing.

The sound of quiet sobbing suddenly echoed through the great expanse of black. Kitsu stopped abruptly, a startled look on her face. Kirby glanced up at her and when he looked back down, his feet was planted solidly on earth. Giving a small yelp of surprise, Kirby looked around them.

They were in what looked like a cramped jail cell, with the dirt as the floor and thick mortar stone walls overgrown with moss.

"Kitsu…" Meta Knight's voice said. Kirby gasped in delight, turning and saw his mentor sitting there on the floor, eyes a familiar shade of yellow glowing from his mask.

"Poyo!" He cried in joy. The knight did not answer. Kirby leapt in front of him, but Meta Knight stared right past him as though he were an invisible ghost.

"Oh my," Kitsu sighed, twirling her wand in her hand. "It seems we got lost and wandered into a memory. Oh well." She perked up. "At least that means his mind is intact enough for him to retain information."

Kirby stepped back slowly as he came to realize that this past memory of Meta Knight could not see him.

The sobbing did not stop and Kirby looked to the left to see another Kitsu sitting down, head buried in her paws. The memory of Meta Knight called Kitsu's name again, softly and awkwardly, as though having no experience of how to comfort a crying girl.

"Leave me alone," The younger version of Kitsu sniffed, wiping tears away from her normally bright and cheerful eyes. She sat against the stone wall glumly.

"It's a bar of chocolate," said Meta Knight, a note of exasperation entering his voice.

"Yes, it's a bar of chocolate," Kitsu replied snappishly, attempting to glare at him but failing. She subsided and looked at the ground in a rather sulky manner. "They took away all my chocolate…"

"I don't think that's a valid excuse for you to start crying, Kitsu. If anything, at least cry about how we're possibly going to be tortured to death in the most excruciating ways possible," The knight deadpanned.

"But my chocolate…" Kitsu attempted. Meta Knight shook his head and gave up on consoling her over her loss.

Behind Kirby, the current-age Kitsu giggled. "Oh I remember this."

"On the bright side," the past version of Kitsu suddenly said, perking up happily. "No one's been in Nightmare's base. We're the first! Everyone else was just killed. He never did take prisoners very often."

"Right," Meta Knight snorted bitterly. "Because no one else has ever had the dishonor of being captured."

"Think of it as an opportunity to spy on the enemy."

"You're awfully optimistic for the one who was just crying a moment ago," Meta Knight pointed out flatly.

"You're too gloomy!" Kitsu laughed, ignoring all of his logic. "It's not healthy to brood all the time, like you do!"

Abruptly, the door to the jail cell opened. A pair of demon beasts entered, holding shimmering shackles. Before either of them could react, the demons had grabbed Meta Knight, cuffed him and dragged him out of the cell.

"Don't give in," Meta Knight called weakly to Kitsu as he was hauled away.

"Give in to what?" Kitsu called back, cheerfully.

"Torture, you fool! Don't give up any information about…" By then, he had been taken away enough for his voice to be too faint to hear.

The younger Kitsu chuckled slightly. "Worry about yourself," She said, even though he couldn't hear her.

The scene then seemed to blur slightly around the edges and for a moment, Kirby thought they were going to be dropped back into the black abyss. But the jail cell returned back to focus a moment later. Kirby noticed some small changes though. There was a bowl of uneaten—and rather unappetizing-looking, even for someone like Kirby—"food" near the door. There seemed to be a bit more moss on the wall, as though a moderate period of time had passed.

The memory of Kitsu sat in almost the same spot she had been earlier. She was examining her arm and to Kirby's horror, it was covered with deep burn marks. The expression on Kitsu's face, however, was mere amusement. The medic did not summon her wand—it had probably been taken away—but one by one, the burns began slowly vanishing without a trace.

The jail cell door opened again and this time a different pair of demon beasts were dragging a struggling Meta Knight back into the cell. They tossed him in like a sack of potatoes and then slammed the door closed. Before he could land on his face, the knight managed to twist so that he plopped instead on his back. His hands were still cuffed in front of him, but otherwise Meta Knight looked unharmed.

"Hello~," Kitsu said cheerfully, unmindful of their situation. She tilted her head curiously. "You don't look as beaten up as usual. What happened?"

"Nothing," The knight said coldly, like through gritted teeth. His eyes flickered a dull coppery red for a split second. Kirby wondered if he had sustained severe wounds that couldn't be seen and evidently the past version of Kitsu had come to the same conclusion. She scooted closer, hiding her right arm behind her until the last of the burns had faded.

"Well? What's wrong?"

Meta Knight sat up smoothly. "Nothing. I'm fine. Sir Arthur and the others will come to rescue you soon. Just endure my company for a little longer and everything will be alright."

"Oh my," She laughed. "You're even more gloomy than usual. Could you do me a favor and turn around for a moment?"

"Why?" Was the icy reply.

"Just do it," Kitsu hummed, smile getting wider.

"…No." His voice was softer, but just as frosty.

"_Meto Naitoooo~_," The medic sang coaxingly. The only answer was a glare. Kitsu scooted to the right in an effort to get around him to look at his back, for whatever reason. Meta Knight stubbornly turned with her, his cuffed hands clenched angrily. Suddenly, Kitsu waved her hand and knight was lifted off the ground and flipped over by an invisible force.

She giggled as her cellmate made a furious growl at the unexpected use of magic.

Sprouting from Meta Knight's back were his two wings, awkwardly half-folded as though their owner had no idea how to use them. Kirby having never gotten a close look at them, walked forward to examine the wings curiously. They were a deep shade of purple-blue, the thin membrane pulsing with delicate veins and framed by slim bones, all capped by a spike at the top.

The present day Kitsu chuckled softly.

Meta Knight scrambled to his feet and attempted to turn back around but his companion caught him by one of the wings. She tugged lightly on it.

"What's this?" She asked, eyes wide.

"Don't look…" Meta Knight growled, struggling feebly.

"Oh so now they're pulling freak experiments on you?" Kitsu mused, her tone as lighthearted as ever. "Is that what they've been doing to you all along?"

"_Let go_."

"Mmh~," The medic hummed. Gently, she extended the wing, running her hand along the thin but strong membrane between the long bones. There was a fascinated look in her eyes. "Wow. They're beautiful."

"B-b-what?" The knight sputtered, eyes flashing orange briefly in shock.

"Beautiful. Look," Cheerfully, Kitsu folded the wing and then bent it again, downwards as though it was flapping. "It's built flawlessly for your size and weight. They work perfectly. You could fly with these."

"What."

"You could fly with these," She repeated patiently, and the burst out laughing. "What kind of idiot would give his prisoner wings to fly away with? Nightmare has just made escape much easier." Her laughter softened into giggling. "Wow. I envy you. Flying sounds like lots of fun."

"Not everything is a game," The edge had returned to Meta Knight's voice as he pulled away from her, at her suggestion that the wings _weren't_ a curse. "I won't ever use these things…" He glared angrily at his restrained hands. "As soon as I get these off, I will take the accursed cape off too."

"What 'accursed cape'?"

Meta Knight was silent. Kitsu's mouth quirked into an even wider smile as she stared at him with patient intensity. Finally, the knight muttered something furiously.

"What's that?"

"I told them the location of Sir Arthur's ship."

"I don't see how that has relevance to my question," Kitsu giggled, but she shrugged afterwards, still smiling. "Alright, you told them the location of a ship. A ship, if you didn't know, is _mobile. _It. Can. Move. So I don't see how you did any harm to…"

The knight's fist clenched tighter. "That's not the point. I gave up information to the enemy." He paused. "I didn't mean to. It was just that…I slipped up as…they were trying to turn me into a demon beast." His voice lowered and he shook his head, eyes blazing red behind his mask.

"Oh so that's what they _have_ been trying to do to you the whole time," Kitsu tilted her head curiously, seeming altogether unbothered at the prospect. "Hmm hmm…you as a demon beast." She giggled. "I don't think there'll be much of a difference. It's not like you can get any _less_ gloomy to be around. Although it would certainly be interesting to see you walking around with some tentacles or multiple eyes or stuff like that."

He ignored her attempt to cheer him up and shuddered slightly. "Luckily my body rejected anything they attempted." He winced at the memory. Said rejection was not a pleasant experience.

"But Meta Knight—what if one of their experiments made you taller?"

He gave her a glaring look that could have burned a hole right though her, but Kitsu was too deeply trapped in a giggling fit to notice.

"_That's_ the only reason I gave up information." Meta Knight snapped, but then stopped short. "No. That's merely an excuse. My slip-up is inexcusable," He sounded disgusted with himself. "Even though he failed in his experiments, Nightmare stuck sort of cape onto me—said it was my 'reward'—and it turned into _these_." Meta Knight gave his wings a revolted look and then turned away further, shaking his head furiously. "I will not give in to his mind games."

"A cape? It can turn into a _cape_?" Kitsu was practically rolling on the ground, unable to breathe through her laughter. "Wow _that's_ convenient! What else did he stick in it? Air conditioning?"

Meta Knight gave a snort at her refusal to take anything he said seriously, but the air around him was less icy—he had probably figured it was impossible to get Kitsu to join in on his negativity. He flapped his wings once briefly and folded them. Then, with an almost curious expression on his face, he curled them a little tighter and suddenly the wings gave way to cloth and the familiar midnight blue cape flowed over his back. Meta Knight's eyes widened, as Kitsu's laughter only increased.

The joyous bell-like sounds still echoed as the jail cell gradually melted back to black.

"Poyo…" Kirby murmured, as he glanced around the dark abyss once more.

"Yep, he kept the cape of course," The present-day Kitsu said, a hint of a giggle in her voice. "You can't ask for a more convenient item than that." She strode forward a new bounce in her step. "I'll try not to get us lost again."

"Poyo."

They walked for millennia but also for just a few seconds. Gradually, the darkness around them faded into softer shades of emerging color. The abyss around them was no longer just black but streaked with an infinite spectrum of pale pastel shades, forming half-visible images. A figure emerged from the side of Kirby's vision, but when he turned to look at it, it was gone. A voice floated by with words too soft and muffled to comprehend and occasionally the distant sound of swords clashing could be heard. The colors grew more vibrant as they continued on their trek and the half-imagined images grew more complete and recognizable.

"Ah ha!" Kitsu exclaimed triumphantly. "We didn't get lost again!"

She pointed forward and Kirby saw Meta Knight standing ahead of them, his back turned to them. The knight did not move or react, as they approached.

"Poyo…!" The pink ball cried out and then gave Kitsu a hesitant look, unsure of whether this Meta Knight was real or not.

"Go on," Kitsu nodded, nudging him in the lost knight's direction.

Kirby eagerly jogged ahead three quick steps and then looked back when he noticed Kitsu was not following him. "Poyo?"

"I've already tried to go to him, Kirby." Kitsu demonstrated by stepping forward. An invisible barrier seemed to lock her out. "My presence here heals much of the madness, but I can't quite reach him. I was so very close…but he's too far. Go. I'll wait for you here."

Kirby threw her a final uncertain look as he started walking. Nothing stopped him, and so he raced quickly over to Meta Knight. The knight did not react to the sounds of the soft footsteps hitting the nonexistent ground. Kirby stood behind his mentor for several long seconds, feeling alarm course over him. Meta Knight would never let someone get behind him unnoticed. What was wrong with him now? Kirby reached out to tug Meta Knight's cape but then drew his hand back as if afraid the elder Star Warrior would vanish at his touch.

The pink ball spared a quick glance over his shoulder, but white mist had gathered behind him, hiding Kitsu from his view. Kirby contemplated going back and asking her how to unfreeze Meta Knight. But the fear that he would disappear the moment Kirby looked away for too long, remained. The pink ball fixed his gaze glumly on the blue cape in front of him, wondering how he would get out of this quandary.

"Poyo," Kirby sighed. At the sound of his voice, the spell suddenly broke, and the knight stiffened as though in shock, making a movement as though to turn. His armor clanked along with him. "Kirby…?" The smooth and familiar and long-missed voice asked.

Overjoyed that he was recognized, Kirby threw himself on top of Meta Knight. "Poyo!"

"Ka—What are you doing?" Meta Knight squirmed in surprise, under the hug.

"Poyo poyo," Said the pink ball happily.

"I…am glad to see you too, Kirby." Meta Knight moved back, pried Kirby off of his mask and set his student down before him. "What are you doing here?"

"Poyo po poyo!" _We came to get you, of course._

"Came to get me?" The knight asked blankly. He paused, golden eyes puzzled as though he were a person waking from a long and suffocating dream. "I—I remember now." His eyes narrowed and with a sigh, he put his gloved hand morosely on the side of his head. "I've caused a lot of trouble for you guys, haven't I?"

"Poyo," Kirby shook his head and then tugged on Meta Knight's arm.

"Go where?"

"_Poyo_ poyo!"

"Home?" Meta Knight's yellow eyes shimmered thoughtfully and then softened. "That's right. Home." He whispered the word as though it were a kind of sweet he had never tasted before.

Happily, Kirby lead him away, past the white mist to where Kitsu was waiting.

* * *

So yeah.

That's our trek through Meta Knight's head.

The whole theory about Meta Knight being a demon beasts because he has wings...I dunno. It's certainly quite believable and there are many things that support it, but the fact that said wings can conviniently turn into a cape at will suggests that they are more of a magical item than actual wings that got stuck onto Meta Knight via experimentation. Plus, the cape seems to feature other abilities (especially in games like SSBB) and it is first and foremost a nifty but still mere article of clothing rather than wings.

So I compromised by having said cape as a cape. But I didn't go too far into Meta Knight's past, so there is a chance he was a demon beast. I guess.

I think I'm trying a little too hard here..XD


	13. Chapter 12

I don't own Kirby.

Wow I think the story's almost over. That was fast. It certainly seems to be headed towards the climax. Hmm.

* * *

Meta Knight's blade halted, a centimeter above Blade's neck.

"Meta Knight-kyou?" Fumu asked softly. Both Kitsu and Kirby seemed to have spaced out, their eyes wide and unseeing. As they stirred from whatever stupor that had overtaken them for two seconds, the knight withdrew his sword from the almost-fatal blade stroke.

Sword rose shakily, voice trembling slightly. "S-sir?"

"Did I injure you?" Meta Knight asked softly, eyes glimmering gold. "I apologize."

"Poyo!" Kirby had decided that hugging Meta Knight once, in an imaginary world wasn't enough and he pounced on the elder Star Warrior once again.

"Kirby," The knight protested, but this time the pink ball refused to be removed from the top of Meta Knight's head. With a sigh, he gave in to his student's euthusiastic greeting.

"We're glad you're back, sir." Blade called from his position, still face-down on the floor. Sword gave him a light kick, telling him to get up and stop making a fool of himself. Reluctantly, Blade climbed to his feet and retrieved his fallen weapon.

Meta Knight gave a brief nod. He glanced at the sword in his hand, seemed to realize it was not Galaxia and frowned slightly. Kirby hastened to return the golden blade he held to its rightful owner. Meta Knight thanked him, weighed the comforting mass of Galaxia in his hand, before sheathing it.

Just then, an angry swarm of demon beasts interrupted the happy reunion. They charged down the hall in a furious mob, sporting wings and horns and claws. A spurt of flame temporarily blocked their path. Silica turned slightly, her violet eyes blazing. "There you are! We can't keep this up. These guys are limitless." She changed her weapon into bazooka mode and began firing the rockets at the enemies. Bun leapt out of nowhere, swinging his club.

""There's too many of them!" Knuckle Joe yelled as he raced ahead of the crowd of furious demons. "We have to—oh look you found Meta Knight. Okay! We retreat now!"

"That's a good idea!" Kitsu exclaimed cheerfully. "By the way, Meta Knight, the Halberd got destroyed."

Sword and Blade flinched and both of them made angry gestures at her that obviously meant S_hut up! Do you want us to be killed?_

"Oh yeah...about that..." Knuckle Joe began sheepishly, as if attempting to invent an excuse.

Meta Knight continued to stare at Kitsu. "The Halberd…got destroyed?" He asked, in a very small voice.

"Mmh _hmm~_"

"Again…?" He murmured, sounding heartbroken. The unlucky Star Warrior drooped like a wilted flower and then heaved a quiet, depressed sigh. Kitsu patted him soothingly on the back.

"It's okay! You can just rebuild it…again." She laughed at the gloomy aura that descended upon him.

"Cut the chatter—Vulcan Jab!—and let's get moving!" Knuckle Joe shouted as he fended off the demon beasts.

"Silica, Joe…" Meta Knight suddenly said, in complete disregard of the previous statement. He had straightened, seeming to forget about the fate of his ship, and was looking around in puzzlement that reflected increasing worry. "Where is Dakonyo?"

There was no sign of the old soldier anywhere. The two exchanged grim looks and then shook their heads very slowly, making obvious the veteran's fate.

Meta Knight's breath caught in his throat and he took a half step back, almost crashing into the wide-eyed Kitsu. "No..."

"It was my fault," Silica clenched her fist. "I…he…" The rest of the words got tangled in her distress. Meta Knight placed his hand gently on her arm, even as sorrow clenched around his own bruised and battered heart.

"Do not blame yourself. He died a true warrior, defending what he had always fought for with all his heart." Meta Knight took a deep breath afterwards, telling himself to grieve later. Kitsu had a large and fake smile pasted to her face. She had her head delibrately tilted away so no one could see her eyes.

The solemn moment dissolved again as yet more demon beasts stormed in. The small group turned and began running.

They raced past hallways, a mob of enemies in hot pursuit.

"Where are we going?" Bun shouted.

"I don't know! Where are we going?" was Knuckle Joe's frantic reply.

"Oh my. It appears we're lost," Kitsu giggled in forced manner, as though it were a very bad joke.

"We left the Firebird in Nightmare's hangar," Fumu said hurriedly.

Meta Knight paused before making a very abrupt turn left. "This way." He said, flatly. No one questioned how he knew.

They rushed down some stairs and into the bowels of the metropolis. It was very dark here, lit poorly by lights far above in the shadowed ceiling. Blackness flickered along the edges of the gloomy and brooding hallway. Fumu raced, trying to figure out who was in front of her, but it was too dark to see anything of anyone else besides silhouettes.

"Ah…" Kitsu's voice sounded rather urgent.

"What is it?" Someone asked.

"Duck."

Fumu obeyed, leaning forward. Just then, a loud whistling sound echoed through the hallway like something slicing the air just above her head. Soft malicious laughter followed.

"We caught you." A hoarse, vaguely familiar voice grated. The sounds of weapons being drawn and running feet reached Fumu's ears but she could not make out anything that was happening. There was a short scream, Knuckle Joes yelling Silica's name frantically—a sickening sound of something stabbing through something else and then the sounds of clashing blades. Someone slammed into the ground besides Fumu, but they had gotten up and rolled back into combat before she could react.

"Poyo!"

"Watch out, Kirby!"

"You'd best watch out yourself, Meta Knight." Yamikage sneered from the darkness. A terrible, drawn-out _snick_ noise echoed through the hall, like someone getting sliced. Meta Knight uttered a half-supressed pained sound that made Fumu want to burst into tears.

"Sir!"

"S-stay back…"

Laughter echoed from the invisible assailants. Fumu backed away, half-frozen with terror.

"K-Kitsu, t-take Kirby and…the others and go."

"Go where?" The mildly interested reply came. Meta Knight started to say something, but he was cut off as the sounds of fighting began anew.

Someone grabbed Fumu and she let out a scream. But it was only Blade. He ran in the direction they came from, practically carrying her in his arms.

"Let me go!" Bun shouted, somewhere behind them.

"Stop moving," Sword's voice snapped. "Your safety and Kirby's is our priority."

"Poyo," said pink ball cried in protest.

"Wait, Kirby!" Sword shouted. "Don't go back—no!"

"We have to go!" Blade said urgently.

"But Meta Knight-kyou said—!"

"Look out!"

A spinning shadow barely missed the head of Sword's silhouette. The silhouette's owner let out a small yelp of surprise and raced forward to dodge another volley of shuriken.

"_Sword!" _Panic was beginning to show through Blade's voice.

"We're going," Sword snarled breathlessly as he appeared next to Fumu, carrying a struggling Bun.

"W-wait!" Fumu tried to inch out of Blade Knight's strong grip. "We can't leave everyone behind like this!"

There was no reply from her captor/rescuer. The apprentice knights ran away back towards the light, dragging the two children with them.

* * *

"This way," Kitsu's voice echoed calmly, tapping Meta Knight on the shoulder. Her dim shadow raced towards the opposite direction Sword and Blade had gone. He nodded, ignoring the agony and the blood that seeped steadily out, soaking into his armor.

Yamikage's attack had sliced deeply into his wings as he attempted to fly to Kirby. They now hung useless on his back, half-ripped apart and spewing blood. He remedied this by changing to the cape form. The phantom agony remained where the nonexistent wings would be, but at least he was not going to die immediately of blood loss.

"Poyo…"

"Why did you stay, Kirby?" Meta Knight hissed furiously.

"Poyo," was the stubborn answer. Kirby continued running alongside them and the knight did not have the strength to start an argument.

"Hang in there, Silica," Knuckle Joe murmured as he raced next to them, bearing the injured girl on his back. "How far is it to the hangar?"

"Not too far," Meta Knight replied in a stiff whisper. "Sword and Blade should arrive there faster though. I instructed them on a different path."

A kunai that whipped past his head reminded them that they were still being pursued. There was a sizzle in the air as Krasus fired something at them. Kitsu turned, amber eyes glinting brightly in the dim, baton spinning. The dark energy ball was dissolved by her wand.

"Up here," Meta Knight shouted as he turned and rushed up a staircase. They were back in the light, and finally could see just how bad of a shape everyone was in. Silica was unconscious and breathing rapidly and shallowly, a gaping stab wound in her side. Joe appeared to have lost an ear. His free hand was clutching that side of his head, the blood pooling between his fingers. Kirby had several shallow scratches, but he had a brave face. Only Kitsu seemed unscathed, having utilized her shielding abilities.

Yamikage and Krasus emerged from the dark staircase, their red eyes gleaming maliciously. "Finished running?" The ninja snickered.

Kirby, the only fighter not injured severely, stepped forward, blue eyes narrowed.

"You gonna take us all alone? Very well. Let's have some fun, then." Krasus chuckled as he raised his staff.

As the pink ball engaged the enemies, Kitsu turned to Meta Knight. "Let me see," She said, ordering him to bring out the source of all that blood dripping from his cape. Meta Knight attempted to divert her to healing the others first, but she merely smiled patiently, waiting for him to comply with her commands. With a sigh, he reluctantly transformed the blood-stained cape back into his mangled wings, wincing and having to catch his breath as he did so.

Kitsu took the more skewered wing and gently flattened it, causing Meta Knight to flinch and _almost_ let slip a few choice words. (But that of course, would not be very knightly, and so he bore the pain in obstinate silence.) The baton, floating happily in the air, twirled once and the punctured membrane began to seal back together. There were painful jolts as the delicate bones snapped back into their correct places and the crushed and severed veins and arteries repaired themselves.

After several seconds of the agony, Meta Knight was able to spread his wings without pain. He thanked Kitsu briefly and politely before rushing in to aid Kirby in his battle. Kitsu let out a deep breath and turned to tend to Joe and Silica.

With the veteran Star Warrior joining the fight, the tables had turned against Krasus and Yamikage. Ninja Kirby tossed shurikens rapidly and with great skill from a distance, while Meta Knight covered close combat flawlessly. As they were pushed back, the two demons gradually began to think of personal survival rather than their original mission of eliminating the intruders. Their teamwork became nonexistent then, as the ninja and the sorcerer each attempted to abandon each other and save his own skin.

Finally, Kirby launched forward, short ninja sword flashing and sliced right through Yamikage. Simultaneously, Meta Knight slashed Krasus in half. Both demon beasts froze, curses on their lips as they burst into shimmering dust.

Quite exhausted—and privately, feeling that he was way too old for this kind of crap—Meta Knight sagged back. Kirby undid his transformation and did a small dance of triumph.

"Nice going there, Kirby," Joe said. His ear was magically back in place. Besides him, Silica groaned and stirred, no sign of injury on her. The only one that didn't look as alright was Kitsu. She was sitting down, amber eyes dull from the exertion of completely undoing the injuries of three people.

"Can you walk?" Meta Knight asked the worn out medic. She attempted to perk up, smiling.

"Walk? Of course I can walk. Why wouldn't I be able to walk?" She leapt to her feet—almost tripping and falling back down as she did so—and pointed forward with her baton. "Onwards~! This place really sucks. I wanna leave."

She caused a bar of candy to appear from nowhere and munched on it, seeming to suck in all the energy from the sugar.

The five began continued their trek, in search of the hangar. They walked along the steel corridors, the entire place silent and absent of any more demon beasts. Everything was very quiet, save for their footsteps. The eerie silence made Meta Knight rather uncomfortable himself and he picked up the pace.

As they entered another chamber, laughter echoed menacingly.

"Hmm hmm~?" Kitsu mused. "Why is it that we keep getting ambushed every time we enter a new room?"

"It seems like he's finished playing games with us," Meta Knight remarked quietly as he drew Galaxia.

"That's right, Star Warriors," Nightmare growled, as he materialized. His star-streaked cloak fluttered in an unfelt wind, his horns and black glasses gleaming. "I will crush you myself."

"How on earth will you do that?" Kitsu asked, sounding genuinely curious. "You barely have a physical form. That's the only way you've maintained control over much of the universe for such a ridiculous amount of time. You just go about and give people bad dreams." There was no hint of antagonism in her tone even as she went as far as to insult the lord of Holy Nightmare directly.

Nightmare made a brutal angry sound that served as laughter. "I cannot be defeated, nor do I have to lay a single finger to wipe out ants like you foolish children. Come at me." He raised a long gnarled hand a sharp-nailed finger beckoned mockingly. "Come and exhaust yourselves. My pets will eat you alive!"

Out of nowhere, crimson eyes glared at them. They were completely surrounded by demon beasts.

"So much for 'I will crush you myself'," Kitsu giggled as the warriors formed a protective circle, with her at the center.

Nightmare bared a sharp-fanged smile in response. "Shall we begin the final countdown to checkmate?"

"Heh," Knuckle Joe sneered as he rubbed his nose. "I don't play chess, so don't make those sort of references I don't get."

Silica said nothing, but readied her weapon, which was in sword mode.

"Ah but it won't be as interesting if we don't add one more chess piece to the game," Nightmare continued, snickering.

A pink-clad figure stepped out from among the demon beasts, crimson eyes burning brighter than the rest. A graceful pair of angel wings extended outwards, outshining their small counterparts on Kitsu's hat.

Despite himself, Meta Knight took a step back in shock. Even Kitsu's eyes widened.

The elder Star Warrior's grip on Galaxia tightened and he growled the name quietly. "Galacta Knight."

* * *

*dramatic music of dramatic-ness*

So here we are with Galacta Knight and stuff. And of course, a cliffy. Muahahaha.

And poor Meta Knight. Always getting his ship hijacked or stolen or destroyed...or a combination of the three. Maybe the Halberd just has really bad luck. XD


	14. Chapter 13

I don't own Kirby.

So here we are with Galacta Knight's debut. Sorry for the lateness in his appearance. Please enjoy~ :D

* * *

"_Galacta. Galacta Knight,_" _said Kitsu as she frowned, with one hand at her lips in a deeply-thinking gesture. "At least I think that was the name. Oy…are you okay?"_

_Meta Knight had gone silent, his eyes an alarmed shade of orange. "G-Galacta Knight? Are you sure?"_

"_Mmh. I'm pretty sure." She frowned again, sipping her tea thoughtfully. "I don't know why I would just remember some name. Is it the name of someone? ...Someone you know?" The amber eyes locked on Meta Knight's golden ones intently. _

_Meta Knight looked away slightly. "Yes. I know who you are talking about." He was attempting to dodge and both of them knew it. _

_Kitsu gave him a sweet smile that might have held somewhat of a predatory edge. _"_Oh good, because maybe you can tell me about this someone," She delibrately tilted her head to the side. She, too, could play the game of interrogation. "Please. I'm curious."_

_Meta Knight hesitated, mind racing through all of the conversational subjects he could dodge away to. But then he supposed he owed Kitsu answers since he had cornered her into spilling last time. Very slowly, the knight poured himself another cup of tea and blew on it gently. Kitsu offered him sugar, showing no hurry whatsoever. It seemed that stalling would not work._

_Meta Knight sighed before beginning to speak. "It was a long, long time ago. I was young and arrogant then."_

"_Then? You're still quite a prick even now."_

_The knight merely chuckled gently at that. "Galacta Knight held the title as the most powerful warrior in the universe. He was in fact so powerful and feared, that he was sealed away."_

"_Hmmm hmm~? Most powerful warrior in the universe? There's a title for that? What, do they hold a contest?"_

"_Are you going to let me finish?"_

"_Aha…gomen."_

"_I summoned him through the comet Nova. I was confident in myself enough to challenge him," Meta Knight said softly. "And…I won." After another moment, with Kitsu looking at him patiently, he added. "It was through underhanded means. He was more skilled and had a much greater range of techniques that I could never match. I was...lucky, and I employed a tactic that made the battle uneven. I defeated Galacta Knight, but it was a dishonorable and empty victory."_

_"And there you go again about honor," Kitsu remarked. "A victory is a victory, no?"_

_Meta Knight had had _this _argument with her more times than he could count and refused to be diverted to it. Thankfully, Kitsu dropped that subject and continued, saying, _"_So you defeated the 'most powerful warrior in the universe' and I never heard anything about it?"_

_Meta Knight smirked, under his mask. "You do not pay attention to many essential things," He returned coolly._

"_That was uncalled for," Kitsu sniffed as she reached for some chocolate nearby. _

_Meta Knight said in a softer tone of voice. "I did not tell anyone. Galacta Knight had been sealed away for so long, that to most people he was a mere legend that may or may not have existed. I defeated him, but nothing changed and no one noticed. In the end it did not matter." It seemed Meta Knight's last sentence was directed more towards himself. He stirred his tea quietly, a wistful look in his golden eyes. _

_Kitsu did not seem to be listening though. "Galacta Knight…" She murmured as though tasting the two words on her tongue. "Why on earth would such a person rescue me from…eh?" She looked confused like she was unsure where those words had come from. Meta Knight leaned forward eyes bright._

"_Wait, he—?"_

_Urgently, Kitsu held up a hand and Meta Knight stopped speaking. She began blurting out short, rapid sentences like the strings of words were flashing across her vision to be read, but disappeared from sight and memory just as quickly. _

"_He…he rescued me from the demon beasts. He brought me to some planet. I healed myself there…I lived there for a while. Because…why?" Her gleaming eyes closed in concentration and like she was reciting from a textbook, Kitsu declared in short clipped phrases. "Because he wanted me to learn something. It was very important and I very much wanted to learn it in order to please him and repay the debt I owed…it was essential that I learned it because it involved his revenge on…what?" Kitsu stopped short, opened her mouth as if to say more and then slowly shook her head. "I...don't remember anything else." _

"_His revenge?" Meta Knight asked. "Are you sure it had something to do with revenge?"_

_Kitsu nodded briefly, staring at the ground sulkily. "It was a spell."_

"_A spell?"_

"_That messed with my memories," Kitsu clarified, seeming unhappy she couldn't figure out a type of magic. "I've tried to unwork it, but whatever weird stuff he pulled was pretty good. Even now I can't unblock what he did to me." Her baton had reappeared and spun furiously, flashing with sparks. The magician frowned. "It won't lift immediately, no matter what I do." Just as quickly, she sat back and the cat-like smile was back on her face. "I am gradually undoing it though. Sooner or later, I'll remember."_

_Meta Knight nodded slowly, feeling uneasiness stir within him. "I see."_

_He could clearly remember Galacta Knight and every detail of their brief but vicious battle. And right then, Meta Knight swore he could feel those crimson eyes glaring at him from beneath the cross-shaped visor, burning with vengeance. _

_

* * *

_

"Still alive, Meta Knight?" The pink armor glinted brightly against familiar scarlet eyes. The matching rose-colored lance and shield clanked as Galacta Knight shifted forward. "Good. Because I have waited this long just so I could kill you in the most humiliating way possible."

Meta Knight said nothing, ignoring the questioning looks that Knuckle Joe and Silica threw at him.

Galacta Knight did not seem bothered by his calm and icy silence. He raised the pink lance so that it glinted in the light. "Come here, Kitsu."

Meta Knight turned, alarmed, as the magician stepped around him and walked calmly towards the enemy. Knuckle Joe attempted to grab her, but Kitsu easily stepsided him.

"Don't bother," Galacta Knight chuckled, as Meta Knight was about to call after her. "She can't hear you. I've spent years weaving that spell around her. She will be your downfall. You'll be destroyed by one of your friends, Meta Knight. I think that would be a fitting enough death for you. Isn't that right, Kitsu?"

The magician made an airy "_Hmm_" sound, her eyes seeming distant.

"What have you done?" Meta Knight demanded, breaking his silence with quiet ferocity that made Silica and Joe flinch back. He pointed Galaxia threateningly at his rival.

"Surely you are familiar with mind control, considering you've been the target of it," The pink armored knight replied arrogantly, giving his lance a twirl. Red sparks flew from it.

Meta Knight stared at him uncomprehendingly, almost unwilling to believe Galacta Knight would fall to the level of using dirty tricks. "Why? You were the most powerful warrior in the universe and ours was the greatest match I have had the honor to fight in. Why would you...?"

"_Why?_" Abruptly, Galacta Knight's voice dropped into a deep snarl. "Because you took _everything! _I was sealed away because they feared my power. When you freed me, the only things I had left were my title and my honor. _You trampled on both_." He paused, seeming to take a calming breath, but the rage still danced in his bright eyes. "So why not? I have nothing left. _There is nothing more_."

The last two statements were pitched so that they sounded dark and menacing, but Meta Knight caught the very faint, almost imagined pang of hurt behind it. Here was one whose life and very purpose had revolved around the sword. He had been feared for his abilities and because of that and nothing more, had been imprisoned. He had had no one who trusted or befriended him, had no one to believe in. And then Meta Knight had freed him, given him a tiny taste of freedom, before striking him down. What else would Galacta Knight have left, but to lash out against the universe that had sought to bring him down? Meta Knight felt not hatred, but pity stir in his heart. And he realized just how lucky he was to not become someone like that: Someone who lived only for battle and was lost without the nourishment of blood.

Kitsu smiled distantly and her baton appeared in her hand. It twirled lightly in the air. "Ne, what are we doing today?" She asked Galacta Knight pleasantly. It was almost as though she was back on the distant planet, alone with this friendly knight who had so kindly saved her from a bunch of demon beasts.

"Remember that important thing that I told you about?" The pink-clad knight's voice had dropped back to its velvety pitch as he replied soothingly, as though speaking to a small child. "Why don't you try it out now? You've perfected it, right?"

Kitsu smiled and nodded eagerly.

Galacta Knight's red eyes flickered in satisfaction. "Good girl. I will give you lots of candy after this." He snickered, turning back to address the knight who had defeated him. "It was quite difficult to plot your downfall to have one of your dear friends kill you, you know. After all, by the time I had allied myself with Nightmare and managed to learn from him the appropriate spells, most of your friends were dead. And even after I took Kitsu, there was another problem. She completed lacked any strong offensive abilities whatsoever. So how would I use her to kill you?" Galacta Knight's red eyes narrowed. "Well it would not be as amusing if I told you right now, no? You will find out soon enough."

Kitsu faced Meta Knight, smiling happily.

"Poyo?" Kirby asked, wondering what was happening.

"Be quiet, Kirby," Knuckle Joe muttered. "I don't get it either, but it looks like she's with the enemy."

"Poyo?" The puffball realized what Joe was saying and furiously shook his head. "Poyo poyo! Poyo!" _Kitsu would never do that!_

"Kitsu…" Meta Knight murmured softly. She lifted her hand, baton spinning in the air joyously.

"Now!" She cried. "Let us begin."

The wand spun faster and faster, seeming to glow. It formed a small ring of light on the ground that glowed beautifully with many spectrums of color. It shot towards him and instinctively, Meta Knight knew that light was deadly…somehow.

"Don't let it touch you!" Meta Knight shouted as he unfurled his wings and shot upwards to dodge. Kirby, Silica, and Knuckle Joe scattered in different directions to avoid the light.

"Eh? I missed?" Kitsu blinked, tilting her head. "Oy…you never said anything about moving targets!"

"Surprise," Galacta Knight replied, voice filled with dark amusement. "I'm sure you can do it. Try your best."

"Hmm hmm~," hummed the medic as she aimed the light once more. "I can't keep this up all day you know," She said to the pink-clad knight cheerily. "It takes a lot of energy."

"I know. Just this once and you'll never have to do it again."

"Hmm?" Kitsu gave Meta Knight a curious look as though wondering what he was, that by getting him, she would be freed from the task.

"Poyo!" Kirby wailed at her, distressed that for the second time of the day, an ally was attacking him.

"Look out!" Silica shoved the pink ball aside as the light swept in again. She did not manage to push him far enough, for the light hit them both. A scream rent the air. Before Meta Knight could react, the light was turned on him as well.

As soon as the ring of light hit him, Meta Knight felt all the strength drain from his body. That was followed by a terrible ripping sensation, like barbs had sprung from inside him, tearing him apart from within. Besides him, Knuckle Joe let out a cry of pain; Silica had collapsed in a spurt of blood. Kirby, the only one seeming unaffected, despite also getting hit, looked around in bewilderment as his friends fell one by one, bleeding from wounds that had appeared out of nowhere.

"How is it? Does it hurt?" Galacta Knight purred spitefully as Nightmare laughed in the background.

Half-blinded by pain and blood, Meta Knight shuddered once, attempting to rise, and then fell again. His wings were broken and torn—in exactly the same spots that Kitsu had healed not long ago. Silica had the stab wound in her side once more, and Joe clutched his missing ear.

His wings weren't the only things newly torn to pieces. Meta Knight had no sight in his left eye. One of his feet were mangled by tooth marks and there was practically a hole through his head. The world seemed to spin around him, not only from the new gush of blood loss but also from a concussion. His remaining fuzzy vision faded rapidly as Galacta Knight's voice echoed through the descending darkness.

"Is that all? Pathetic. You have almost died so many times…the only thing that saved you was the medic. What are you going to do now? _This_ is the spell I erased her memory for. For all of you…All of the wounds ever healed by Kitsu now have been _unhealed_!"

He continued. "After you defeated me, Meta Knight, I swore revenge no matter what, and discarded my honor to bring you down. Winning back the title as the universe's strongest warrior is not enough anymore. A mere title will not compensate...no, just killing you myself is not enough. I've manipulated Kitsu with subtle magic for years…she never realized she was controlled. What do you think?"

Most of everything was black now. Only Galacta Knight's voice continued. Meta Knight wished he could die faster as to escape that mocking voice, but it continued, growing in ferocity and twisted triumph.

"Of course, your medic is no pushover. I knew as soon as she left my presence, she would break free from my control and regain her complete free will. She would never betray you willingly. So I wiped the knowledge of everything I taught her and sent her in her ship to your planet. You never suspected it did you not? How does it feel to be _betrayed_?"

Meta Knight gave one last resigned wheeze. His sight was long gone, but he could still hear Kitsu's carefree laughter in the distance, completely unaware of what she was doing. He smiled wistfully and his last half-scattered thought was of regret; that he never did get to eat another slice of chocolate cake after that first time.

* * *

"Poyo," Kirby said blankly. Meta Knight lay unmoving besides him. The pink ball reached out timidly and gave his mentor a few shakes. "Poyo? Poyo! M…_Meto Naaai-to_…" Kirby pronounced with difficulty. "Poyo?"

Why wouldn't he wake up?

"He's done for, Kirby," Knuckle Joe rasped, clutching his head. His eyes were wild with grief as he looked upon Silica's still form. The blood had ceased seeping from her injury. "Both of them."

"_Poyo_!"

"I'm not lying," the fighter stumbled to his feet. "They're…they're gone."

"Are you still not accepting that fact?" Nightmare boomed, his fanged smile wide and malicious.

"Both of them sustained fatal wounds at some point which were healed by Kitsu. Now that that has been undone, they are little more than carrion," Galacta Knight said smugly.

"Poyo," said Kirby, shaking his head slowly, blue eyes wide with disbelief. This could not be happening. Meta Knight could not be dead. He was Meta Knight. He _couldn't_ die.

"I'm finished here," Galacta Knight was saying to Nightmare as he turned. "My revenge is complete. The rest is yours."

"Of course," The lord of Holy Nightmare chuckled. He glanced at Kitsu who was munching on some chocolate. "What is to be done with her?"

Galacta Knight was already leaving. "You can kill her with the remaining ones. She is of no use to me now. The memory block spell has been removed, and as soon as I am gone, the current control spell will break—she'll be perfectly aware of exactly what she has just done."

With that, the pink-clad knight exited out a side door. As soon as he vanished, Kitsu paused abruptly in her eating of the candy, frozen in mid-bite. She eyes narrowed slightly, the baton halting in its cheerful twirling besides her. Kitsu chewed that mouthful of chocolate, swallowed thoughtfully, and then dropped the candy bar on the ground.

She was next to Kirby in the next moment, staring at Meta Knight and Silica, a blank expression on her face. Knuckle Joes flinched away from her, glaring at her with fury and watching her every move with hateful suspicion.

"Poyo," Kirby whispered brokenly. Kitsu sat down between the two fallen warriors, amber eyes flashing with almost bright curiosity.

"You get it now, hm?" Nightmare laughed at the medic who had just killed her two comrades.

"Ah," Kitsu said, the emotion in her voice unreadable, if it was present at all.

And then, she _started laughing. _

"So you _are_ on the enemy's side!" Knuckle Joes snarled, as he raised his fist, prepared to deliver a Vulcan Jab. Frantically, Kirby leapt in front of her, his expression desperate. "Poyo!"

"Move it! I'm gonna kill this little traitor…!"

"Oops," Kitsu said cheerfully, her familiar cat-like smile on her face. Sheepishly, she poked Meta Knight in an apologetic manner as if she had accidently tripped him. "I didn't mean to kill you guys. Sorry about that. I will fix it right away."

She held up her baton and waved it casually. It glowed once more, bathing her, Meta Knight, and Silica in shimmering light. She traced unseen words in the hair with her wand, seeming to draw a complex pattern within the light. As the brilliance increased, she added quite casually. "By the way, I found a ton of cherries before coming here. When we get back, we're definitely having black forest cake!"

It was not clear as to who exactly the medic was talking to. (Meta Knight, the one she usually babbled her nonsense to, obviously could not hear her.)

Kitsu gave one last giggle before closing her eyes, leaning back and seeming to fall into a deep trance. Knuckle Joe shoved past Kirby angrily, still intent on killing the magician. The pink ball grabbed his arm and gestured frantically to the demon beasts...who were prowling towards them. The monsters had already formed a circle surrounding them, their eyes glowing eagerly for bloodshed. Turning away from Kitsu, Joe focused his attention on his current opponents, doing his best to ignore the pain on the side of his head. "Alright Kirby," He said grimly. "We've got to clean these guys up first."

"Poyo." Kirby reluctantly turned away as well, staring sadly at the ground.

Nightmare laughed. "Now let us—,"

"Kirby!" A girl's voice shouted.

"No, Fumu-san don't—!" Sword attempted to pull her back, but Fumu surged forward anyways.

"Ah perfect," snarled Nightmare, as he signaled the demon beasts to attack. "I was going to the hangar to finish the bunch of you off as well, but you have saved me the trouble."

"Fumu-san, get back!" Blade, who was also pursuing her, ran in. "You can't just—," He stopped short at the sight of Meta Knight.

"M-Meta Knight-kyou?" Bun whispered, from where he stood, besides his sister.

Just then, a large claw reached down and raked Kirby across the back, sending him flying with a cry.

"Kirby!" Fumu stared in panic at the massive wave of demon beasts and at Nightmare himself.

The pink ball lay on the ground, eyes closed and unconscious.

"Oh no," Blade breathed in horror. "If he's asleep, that means Nightmare can—,"

"Finally!" The lord of Holy Nightmare seemed to increase even more in size. "Kirby is in my realm now! He's finished!"

Nightmare glowed with purple energy and then vanished, leaving the demon beasts growling at them.

"Fumu-san—," Blade began, turning. He saw the girl slumped on the ground besides him. "Fumu-san? What's wrong? Fumu-san!"

"_Nee-chan_!" Bun shook his sister desperately. "Wake up!"

"It's alright," Sword interrupted. "She has followed Kirby into his dreams along with Nightmare. We have matters of our own to take care of."

The apprentice's gloved hand gestured to the demon beasts. Blade nodded and drew his weapon. "We'll clear the way for their return," He said resolutely. Bun readied his club. Knuckle Joe had already joined them. He grinned, as he rubbed his nose.

"I'm in the mood to kick some ass. Let's go!"

* * *

So there we are. I think the next chapter will be the last. How dramatic.

Bah. I know I rushed this chapter quite a bit. It's written so awkwardly. But I don't feel like editing. Too lazy...XD

I made Galacta Knight kind of a jerk. Oh well. At least he kinda has a reason to be a jerk.

By the way, with the whole Meta Knight using an underhanded method to defeat Galacta Knight thing; technically in the game in which Galacta Knight appeared in, Meta Knight had a massive advantage. That is, he is controlled by a player, whereas Galacta Knight is just a computer with a fancy moveset. Therefore the fight wasn't exactly fair. See? Ahahahaha...okay. That was a lame joke. Moving on.


	15. Chapter 14

I don't own Kirby.

Here we are. The last full chapter. It was really fun writing this, and I hope you guys enjoyed it. ^.^

Btw, prepare for lots of typical cheesiness that comes with OMG META KNIGHT DIED! and stuff. :D

* * *

"Is this really it? We're done? Forever?" Silica asked quietly, staring at the darkness in front of her. The knight besides her shrugged briefly, seeming rather unperturbed at the fact that both of them were dead. Silica gave him a frustrated look.

"The only way to find out is to go forward." Meta Knight began walking, his cape wrapped around himself. They walked together in a more comfortable silence. Gradually, the darkness lit up slightly and they came to a door. It was not a large door, but it was big enough for two people to walk in side-by-side. It was not particularly ornate either, made of simple wholesome-looking oak wood, untarnished by flaws.

Without knowing why, Meta Knight reached for the silver doorknob.

"Are you sure you want to go already?" A voice asked, startling him into halting. He whirled around, recognizing the voice at once.

"J-Jecra?"

His old friend's eyes were warm in greeting. "It's been a while huh, Meta Knight?"

"Meta Knight-kyou!" Dakonyo cried, stepping forward out of nowhere and saluting. Meta Knight returned the gesture, as he gazed sadly upon his newly fallen friend.

A figure stepped gracefully from behind him. "Both of you look well."

"_H-Hahaue_," Silica stuttered, violet eyes wide with shock.

"You have grown," Her mother replied, smiling. "And you have not changed at all, Meta Knight."

"Garlude…" Meta Knight murmered, dipping his head in greeting. His partner in the quest for Galaxia looked radiant and relaxed, having lost all of the stern and serious air she radiated while as a soldier in the army. She smiled at him, seeming not at all angry over the fact that his carelessness was what had gotten her killed.

Garlude raised an eyebrow as he looked away uncomfortably and gave him a look that said quite clearly, _If you're still blaming yourself, I will hit you._

Meta Knight winced and his hand inched forward to the door knob again. All three of his friends stared at him like he was about to leap off a cliff. He shifted awkwardly. "…What?"

"Once you go through there is no going back," declared Jecra solemnly.

"B-but we'll get to be with you right?" Silica asked, her eyes full of longing at the prospect.

"You will get to be with us eventually no matter what," Garlude said gently. "But you have such a bright future ahead of you, Silica. And your duties are not finished yet," She turned, addressing the knight. "Kirby yet needs guidance. Surely you do not trust Kitsu with his upbringing?" A hint of laughter entered her voice.

"Kirby has grown a lot and mostly without my help," Meta Knight replied stubbornly, his grip around the doorknob tightening slightly. "I am no longer required."

"Meta Knight-kyou," Dakonyo cut in. "With all due respect, it would not be a good idea for you to go now."

"Why not?" The knight demanded. "I have finished all of my business. Kirby is strong enough to defeat Nightmare. I'm…done."

"Didn't know you would ever say those words," Jecra laughed. "You're the one that has stubbornly clung to life in the most absurd situations. You have never relinquished hope. Any of us in your position would have given in long ago." He placed his hand softly on Meta Knight's arm. "You will be able to rest one day, my friend. But for now, please consider what you are leaving behind."

Meta Knight opened his mouth, about to argue, when rapid footsteps interrupted him.

"You guys are fast!" wailed an extremely familiar voice. "I thought you were gonna leave before I got here!"

Kitsu rushed from the darkness, her hands clinging to her fox hat which was threatening to blow off from the speed she was running. She skidded to a halt.

"Okay! Now let's go back!" She exclaimed,seeming not at all out of breath, giving Garlude, Jecra, and Dakonyo exceedingly cheerful waves.

Meta Knight began turning the door knob, not even gracing her with a reply.

"Oh no you don't!" Kitsu cried out joyfully as she yanked him back. "You're going back and you're gonna like it!" With her other hand she snatched up a yelping Silica and began rushing back in the direction from where she had come—dragging her prisoners behind her. "Thanks for detaining them, guys! See you!" She called over her shoulder, the earring on her hat jingling with laughter.

"She's as lively as ever," Jecra remarked, with a nostalgic grin.

"Kitsu-sama was the light within the Galaxy Soldier Army!" Dakonyo exclaimed, saluting after them.

"Indeed. She makes me feel young again." Garlude smiled and gave a rueful shake of her head. Calmly, she turned and opened the door that Meta Knight had been trying to get through, holding it open for her companions. The three of them walked filed across the threshold, not looking back.

As for the door, it swung shut immediately with a barely audible sound, where it would wait for the next people ready to cross through.

* * *

"Kitsu…let me go," Meta Knight growled softly. Kitsu's laughter was her only reply.

"Oh liven up! You've got a battle to fight, after all."

"Wha?" Silica asked blankly.

"Kirby has fallen asleep and is fighting against Nightmare," was the blithe reply. "You two happen to be unconscious, so you might as well help, ne?"

Unconscious. Not dead. Meta Knight silently cursed Kitsu for her skill at saving people.

The blackness melted away into shades of navy blue speckled with points of light…like the night sky. They stood there, gaping at the things that were floating around them. Strawberries, watermelon, cake…all sorts of food drifted slowly on platters around them.

"This is Kirby's dream," Meta Knight murmured.

"And he only thinks about food. What a surprise," Silica snorted as she readied her weapon. Meta Knight glanced down to see Galaxia in its place at his belt. Hesitantly his hand brushed the golden hilt. It felt warm and pulsed gently at his touch, as though encouraging him to draw it. He did.

"Let's go," The knight sighed, as he strode forward. His own wants would have to wait. Kirby needed him.

Kitsu nodded happily as she watched the two walk in front of her. She began backing away, as if to leave. Meta Knight stopped short.

"Kitsu? Where are you…?"

"I'm leaving, of course," The medic replied cheerfully. "I literally brought not one, but _two_ people back to life. Do you think such a thing exists without a price?"

Meta Knight's eyes widened. "Kitsu—!"

Already, her image was fading around the edges and it looked like she might disappear at any moment."Oh but I do want to see the results of the battle," The fox puffball beamed at him. "Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere yet."

Before Meta Knight could reply, mist crawled forward out of nowhere and surrounded her. Kitsu's small figure vanished into the white foggy depths, even as she made gestures at them, telling them to go. Meta Knight was about to run back towards her when Fumu's voice caught his attention.

"_Kirby_!"

The knight hesitated, looking between the white mist and the starry sky ahead. Just then, he heard Kirby give a cry of fear. Swiftly, Meta Knight and Silica raced towards the sound.

Kirby was running in a panic, dodging Nightmare's outreached claws, as Fumu watched helplessly. The small pink ball weaved amoung the floating platters of food in an effort to throw his pursuer off. Nightmare stayed hot on Kirby's tail, occasionally extending his long nails and raking at the young Star Warrior, all while laughing.

"Nightmare!" Meta Knight shouted, as he plunged forward, eyes blazing red. Silica launched missiles at their enemy, but they merely went through his starry cloak. Nightmare bared his fangs in surprise, facing the unwelcome visitors with menace in his eyes.

"Poyo!" Kirby stopped short at the sight of his mentor whom he had thought twice lost.

"Why are you alive?" Nightmare asked in vague curiosity. And then he held up a clawed hand. "No, don't tell me. I don't care. You're in my domain. I cannot be destroyed! All of you will die anyways." He cackled.

With a quiet growl, Meta Knight spread his wings and shot at him with the speed of a bullet fired from a gun, Galaxia blazing like platinum flames of a sun. He slashed right through Nightmare, but it was as effective as slicing through fog. Nonetheless, Nightmare flinched back slightly, a glint of wariness in his cruel eyes.

"Galaxia has great power," He hissed. "But it's not enough to harm me in a dream. Give it up, Meta Knight-_kyou_. I will send you back to death, where you belong!"

He lunged at the knight, about to sweep him up with his claws. Suddenly, Kirby leapt in front, blue eyes filled with determination.

"Get out of the way, Kirby!" Meta Knight shouted, but the pink ball wouldn't move, unwilling to see the knight harmed again.

"Kirby!" Fumu shouted. From her pocket, she suddenly produced the Warp Star. Nightmare gasped at the sight and shrunk back. The girl threw the small star and it spun towards Kirby, who opened his mouth wide and inhaled it.

"That's it, Kirby," Meta Knight lowered his sword, immediately knowing the battle was done. "Nightmare's weakness…the Star Rod!"

As he spoke, Star Rod Kirby leaped down, golden weapon twinkling. Meta Knight felt Galaxia quiver gently in his hand in response.

A moderate distance behind, surrounded by hazy white mist, Kitsu's baton began glowing a little brighter and it gave a small shiver of delight. Kitsu stared at it, her smile widening. "Looks like it is done," She said to no one in particular.

The magician turned and walked through the fog, back to the darkness.

Kirby gave a sound of delight as he lifted the Star Rod and shot star-shaped beams from the wand at his enemy. The sparkling projectiles arced in a beautiful display, surrounding Nightmare utterly and drowning him in light. The brilliance glowed white-hot, shining bright enough to wipe out the sight of the cold and distant stars in the night sky surrounding them.

"_Noooo_!" Nightmare howled, as he writhed in the storm of blazing stars. "Not the Star Rod…_curse you Kirby_!"

With that, he vanished in an explosion of darkness, which blasted everyone back into the light.

* * *

Meta Knight crawled slowly and sorely to his feet, wincing at the blood that seeped down his side in new agitation. The bleeding had mostly stopped, and he no longer felt dangerously dizzy, but his wings were still stinging with small but numerous scratches...although they were no longer ravaged in pieces. He gingerly unfolded them. They ached with every movement but were serviceable enough for flight. He was still covered in many light injuries. The wounds that were moderate to life-threatening however, had vanished.

Silica was already standing, the hole in her side having disappeared as well.

"Perfect timing," Knuckle Joe laughed, as he saw the triumphant look in Kirby's eyes. "We just finished clearing out all the demon beasts around here. You did it, didn't you? You defeated Nightmare!"

"Poyo!" Kirby said delightfully, nodding.

"_Nee-chan_! I'm glad you guys are okay," Bun sighed in relief. And then he noticed Meta Knight and Silica. "And you guys too! I was scared to death for a moment. We thought you were dead!"

Meta Knight did not answer. He slowly turned to the side. Kitsu lay there, eyes closed and unmoving. There was still a faint and knowing smirk on her face.

"Just what happened, Meta Knight-kyou?" Fumu asked quietly.

He shook his head slowly. "We will speak of this later. Right now, without Nightmare, the base should be collapsing." Right on cue, the ground began to shake. Small pebbles fell from the ceiling.

"We have to get out of here!" Sword exclaimed.

"The hangar is this way," Blade said as he began leading. "Come on!"

"Wh-what about Kitsu-san?"

All heads once more turned to Meta Knight, who shook his head slowly. "Go." He said shortly. "Exit the base immediately upon boarding the ship. I will meet you in space."

"How would you...?" Fumu began, and then cast a sideways look at Meta Knight's wings which were still furled on his back. She did not ask the unspoken question on her lips. "C-come on guys," She muttered, turning around. "We have to get out of here."

Everyone rushed out, not sparing a glance back. Meta Knight knelt by Kitsu's side. She was breathing—very shallowly. The medic opened one eye and then both. She regarded him in a sleepy and mildly surprised manner. "Shouldn't you be leaving?" She asked.

"I will not leave you behind again, Kitsu."

She laughed softly, the light in her eyes already fading. "Don't be ridiculous." Weakly, she pushed away his hand as he attempted to lift her up. "You'll only be carrying a dead body home. I don't think that's very sanitary or healthy for one's mental state. I'm finished. The only reason I was able to resurrect the two of you was because Nightmare happened to die at the exact moment I completed the spell. I absorbed his energy so you were fixed back into your body. That doesn't mean that all of _my_ life force isn't exhausted." She paused and attempted to switch to a happier subject, as was customary to her. "Kirby did well. He'll grow up to be a fine Star Warrior. Hopefully he won't be as melodramatic as you are."

"You always love to give up, don't you?" Meta Knight remarked bitterly, as he rose. A larger rock fell, narrowly missing his head. He was truly cursed, he seemed. All he touched died. Everyone who became his friend was doomed. But surely this was too cruel. To have someone die not once, but _twice_ in front of him. To turn his back and abandon her for the second time.

"Come now, you're the one who always thinks realistically," Her voice was very faint. "The place is gonna fall on your head if you don't leave. Here. You can have this as a souvenir. Think of it as a lucky charm. With _your_ luck, you'll need it." She handed him her baton which still pulsed with life. "By the way, I left the black forest cake in the castle fridge. It's behind the peanut butter so no one would find it." She winked at him. "Now go. Take care of my ship, won't you? I don't want it to be constantly being destroyed like the Halberd." There was soft laughter.

Meta Knight began walking slowly, the wand gripped tightly. "Goodbye, Kitsu." He said softly, expecting that she was too far gone to hear. He was surprised to hear her reply in her ever-lighthearted tone.

"See you later, Meta Knight."

When he reached the hall, Meta Knight began sprinting. The ceiling rumbled slightly, chunks of metal dropping down. His feet seemed to drag from the weight in his heart, the weight of the baton in his hand, and his numerous injuries—so Meta Knight spread his wings and flew down the hallways instead. Although it was also riddled with pain, flight proved to be speedier and less affected and chained down by his grief.

In his haste and sorrow-stricken blindness, he almost crashed right into Galacta Knight who had been regarding the trembling walls with alarm.

The pink-clad knight's crimson eyes widened with shock. "You! How are you still ali—?"

Without speaking and in all honesty, not in the mood to deal with him right now, Meta Knight batted his enemy aside with Galaxia's flat and attempted to continue flying forward. He was stopped when the pink lance was jabbed at him, narrowly missing a wing.

"You are not going anywhere," Galacta Knight said coolly, arrogance once more dripping from his smooth voice.

"I have no wish to fight you."

"And I am not giving you a choice." His enemy snarled and launched forward, angelic wings flashing. Meta Knight stared at them and was painfully reminded of Kitsu and her hat.

Feeling the burning agony within him again, Meta Knight parried the strike and jabbed towards the cross-shaped visor on his opponent's mask. Galaxia bounced off Galacta Knight's lifted shield harmlessly.

As they broke apart, the ceiling shook again and stones tumbled down. A rock fell towards Meta Knight, who merely stared dully at it. Kitsu's baton, which Meta Knight still held on to tightly like it was a lifeline, suddenly glowed white. It pried itself from his grip and began spinning, deflecting the offending rock. The wand returned to his hand just as quickly, glowing a rather angry shade of orange, as though chiding him for just standing there like an idiot.

The rocks were falling on Galacta Knight as well. He was forced to raise his shield above his head and the Star Warrior took the moment to attack. Even with his shield arm preoccupied, the pink-clad knight maintained considerable defense with the unwieldy lance. But Meta Knight slashed again and again, strength fueled with raw emotion and a sudden desire to break down crying. He was able to resist this, but only when he focused his energy on attacking. His enemy growled in anger as the golden sword nicked his arm.

However, one of Meta Knight's reckless advances left his side wide open and growling with triumph, Galacta Knight brought his weapon down, intending to sever his foe's wings clean from his body. Just then, Kitsu's baton shimmered to life once again, making a rather exasperated-sounding humming noise. It blasted out a short spurt of white energy, causing the lance to miss its target entirely. As Galacta Knight gave a curse in surprise, the wand followed up with a second hum and chains of blazing light shot out, entangling the enemy in an immobilizing net. Meta Knight barely reacted and with a kind of mechanical efficiency, brought his sword through one of the angel wings—exactly what would have been done to him.

Galacta Knight gave a howl of agony and collapsed, bright crimson spurting through the ravaged remains of his wing. As he watched the blood pool out, Meta Knight felt all the fury of battle drain out of him. He stared at his opponent numbly, feeling like an empty cup, like a great void within him had sucked in any emotion he could have felt. Galacta Knight reached feebly for his weapon, crimson eyes blazing with undeterred hatred...that flickered with uncertainty upon the blank look Meta Knight gave him in return.

With almost a nonchalant shrug, the Star Warrior sheathed Galaxia and walked past his fallen foe. He spread his leathery wings once more and continued, unharried through the collapsing halls.

Kitsu's baton flickered slightly, the glow around it starting to weaken. Meta Knight refused to look at it.

His short fight with Galacta Knight only aggravated his injuries further. The knight wondered vaguely if he even had the strength left to fly upwards anymore, let alone into space to catch up to the Firebird.

The base shuddered even more violently. Entire hallways were collapsing behind him now and Meta Knight's wings ached in protest. Nevertheless, he forced himself onwards and reached the ship hangar within moments. He had expected it to be empty, but the Firebird sat there, among hundreds of other ships whose owners would never return.

Blade was waving to him from the roof. "Sir! We have to leave now!"

"Why did you wait?" Meta Knight asked dully and flatly, as he leaped into the Firebird. He received no answer from his stubborn apprentices.

Kirby gave him a startled look.

"Poyo!" The pink ball cried, gesturing towards the baton in his hand. "Poyo! Kee-su poyo?"

"Kitsu won't be coming back with us," Meta Knight said quietly. Kirby was silent, giving him an utterly despaired look.

Without further hesitation, Meta Knight tapped a few keys and the Firebird purred into life. The ship rose rapidly amid the shaking hangar and shot with booster-impelled speed into space just as the ceiling of the place collapsed. The small orange cruiser sailed away, as the massive base of Holy Nightmare exploded like a supernova.

Once safely in the cold silent depths of space, Meta Knight turned over the piloting to Sword Knight. He sat down wearily on a bed, in one of the ship's many sleeping rooms, far from the cockpit and everyone else. Fumu had wanted to treat his injuries, but he had brushed her off coldly. He would have to apologize later.

The knight stared at the baton in front of him. The light from it was gone. It was cool to the touch, just a normal inanimate object. Just a colorful stick. Meta Knight wondered if he should put it down, but then decided he didn't want to. It had, after all, saved his life on several recent consecutive occasions.

_Think of it as a lucky charm. Knowing _your _luck, you'll need it. _Kitsu's lighthearted, knowing words floated back towards him, and Meta Knight had to wonder if the magician was psychic as well. He smiled in bitter irony. But that couldn't be it. She was dead. Dead.

He had to accept it again. Kitsu was dead. Meta Knight closed his eyes briefly, too tired to even feel anger over the one who had most directly caused it. At least Galacta Knight had perished in Nightmare's base as well—with his wings in the state Meta Knight had left them in, there was no way he could fly to safety. The enemy knight had certainly died in the explosion. A rather uninteresting and mediocre death born more out of bad luck than anything else, but that was what he certainly deserved. Or was it? Meta Knight knew nothing about his pink-armored rival. He certainly had no right to judge him.

"Poyo?" There was a soft, sad tug on his cape. Meta Knight did not say anything, and the already tearful Kirby sniffed slightly, about to turn away to cry alone elsewhere. Then, the knight scooted to the right, making room on the bed. Kirby blinked slightly and then jumped on, sitting next to his grieving mentor.

Meta Knight looked distantly into the depths of space through a window. He had gone through rending loss over and over and over. All of his tears had dried up long ago, leaving nothing left except the pain. The pain never left. It was always there, the old scars on his heart, added by new ones.

And so the knight sat quietly as he allowed Kirby to sob into his cape, shedding tears for the both of them.

* * *

Yes there will be an epilogue. I couldn't leave something on such a depressing note. Meta Knight really amplifies depressions, doesn't he?

What I'm unsure of is what exactly to do with Kitsu. Should I leave her dead? Or should I bring her back in some absurd yet believable way? I must admit, I did get attached to her. Hmmm...

Please tell me what you guys think. It will impact the epilogue a lot. :D


	16. Epilogue

After this whole thing...I still don't own Kirby.

Here we are. The final of the final. I'll like to take the opportunity to thank everyone for their reviews and encouragement. I do read every last one of them, even if I don't reply to every one. Thanks for staying with me this entire ride and for taking the time to read this story and, I appreciate all the feedback I get. ^.^

Please enjoy~

* * *

Life returned to relative familiarity. They had been gone for the entire night, but no one had noticed their absence; they returned on time to hastily integrate themselves back into normality, with nothing changed except for a few injuries and a lack of sleep. Meta Knight invented an elaborate excuse for their wounds and for the Court Magician's disappearance. DeDeDe was disappointed, but he did not investigate and no one suspected anything had happened.

The king was further puzzled as to why his demon downloading machine no longer worked and why he could no longer contact Customer Service. He had called in Escargoon and attempted to figure out the problem, but they still had not succeeded.

No one suspected that Kirby had just freed the universe from its long-standing tyrant in one night.

Said pink ball now played happily in the bright moonlight, just over the hill. It was a night festival—thrown heartily by the king, for whatever nonexistent occasion he wanted to celebrate. Torches lit up the entire town as people danced and ate and enjoyed themselves. Meta Knight had revealed the black forest cake to Kirby and the others. It was gone now, sadly and solemnly, but eagerly devoured. Meta Knight had received a slice as well, but he could not bring himself to eat more than a single bite which he barely tasted. The rest of that cake slice lay in his personal refrigerator which was hidden in the castle's highest tower. (Without DeDeDe's knowledge, of course.)

Kirby was chasing fireflies with Bun and Fumu, laughing with delight. Meta Knight had watched them for a while, but then left. There was certainly no immediate danger. Nightmare had fallen...though that didn't mean evil had been eradicated from the universe. Someone would take his place, and the Star Warriors would have to fight for freedom and defend the peace. And Nightmare himself was not gone forever. He was a being who fed on war and strife and lurked in the darkest depths of the hearts of the unsavory. His return, one day, was also inevitable. But that day was probably long off in the distant furture. For now, Kirby could enjoy his childhood, and Meta Knight—well, as Kitsu had suggested—decided not to be as much of a "helicopter parent".

He was in his room now, sitting silently. The castle was darkened. The king and all the inhabitants of the palace had gone out and joined the festival, leaving the knight the only one in the large building.

He did not have the lights on, but then he didn't really need them. It was a clear summer night sparking with stars and a brilliant full moon; the combined starlight and moonlight flowed into Meta Knight's room generously, lighting it enough for the warrior to see fairly clearly.

Kitsu's baton lay cold and still on his desk, as it had for the past few days. Galaxia was in its sheath, leaning against the wall. The knight stared at the sacred sword, wondering if he would ever have to wield it again. Hesitantly, he reached out and drew the blade. It felt as alive as ever in his hand, warm with power. He twirled it easily in his hand, expertly parrying an invisible blow.

Meta Knight sighed as he lowered the sword. What was he thinking? Nightmare was gone. He could settle into relaxed retirement—running errands for the king, beating harsh training on his apprentices and defending the town from the occasional bandit would now become his greatest adventures. That, and of course, guiding Kirby. The young Star Warrior had to be prepared to lead the next generation of fighters.

Meta Knight was about to sheath Galaxia again, when it flared slightly, humming a little harder in his hand, as though in reaction to something. Startled, Meta Knight glanced around and spotted a glowing light on his desk.

It was coming from Kitsu's baton.

Meta Knight caught his breath, shook his head, closed his eyes, and then opened them again. The light was still there. Hesitantly, he approached the wand, which still lay on his desk. He reached out with his free hand and touched it, half-expecting the glow to die immediately. But it didn't. His hand closed softly around the wand. It was just as warm as Galaxia.

Which meant one of two things: One, the baton had accepted Meta Knight as its master, which, while not completely impossible was still as probable as DeDeDe mastering his multiplication tables.

And two…Meta Knight shook his head again, not daring to think of that possibility. It was impossible. She was dead—the base had exploded; there was no way to survive that even _if_ she had not died immediately from bringing Silica and him back…but that didn't stop him from whispering very softly.

"Kitsu…could it be?"

The light of the wand brightened slightly at the mention of its owner's name.

Behind his mask, Meta Knight smiled gently. He was usually not one to get his hopes up, but he had never lost hope even in the bleakest moments. He would wait and see, and see if the very faint spark of hope would light into reality. Meta Knight was very good at waiting. And knowing Kitsu—_if _she was indeed alive—she would return in the most outrageous fashion as soon as possible.

The knight watched the baton for several minutes, but its light never faltered. It glowed on, steadily and eagerly.

Meta Knight picked it up, while he stuck Galaxia in its rightful place at his belt. He walked placidly from the moonlit room, suddenly in the mood to go out. He wouldn't join the festival—that would be absurd—but an opportunity for a walk under such a beautiful night was not to be wasted. Yes, it was one of those rare nights when Ripple Star could be seen clearly in the west, lit so that it blazed brilliantly alongside the moon.

But first, there was a detour to be made. Meta Knight walked towards the entrance to the courtyard. Across there was the stairwell that led to the highest castle tower—as well the refrigerator and a certain black forest cake.

Meta Knight emerged from the darkness of the castle and into the uncertain but brave and starlit dusk, the brilliantly hopeful baton lighting his way like a lantern.

* * *

So yes.

I just went and pulled an ambiguous ending. XD

It seemed too abrupt to have Kitsu poof out of nowhere, changing the solemn mood into craziness about cake again. You could probably guess what's going to happen though. Although if you REALLY want a solid follow-up, I could do something like a one-shot. (Even though I kind of like the mood this ends on.)

But I don't really think I'm can write a sequel. All the loose ends have been tied up and you know what they say about sequels. I don't think I would be able to pull one off. That doesn't mean I'm DEFINITELY not going to write one, one day. Nothing's set in stone...but it's unlikely that it's going to happen anytime soon. XD

One day, I may go back and fix the numerous mistakes in this fic. One day. Maybe...Meh. Too lazy. Whatever. I will look back on the mistakes fondly. Not really. But still, whatever. It's not really a matter of life or death. Ah well. XD

Anyways, thanks again for sticking with me all this time and I hoped you enjoyed the story. Have a nice day~ ^.^


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